Day Eight - 10 Things

1. I baked my first cake, by myself, when I was eight.

2. I still have a tartan kilt that my paternal grandparents brought back for me from a visit to Scotland, when I was six. I kept it in case I had a daughter, which I did, and she wore it. We are keeping it in case she has a daughter.

3. I do not have a great sense of direction. I can easily get lost driving to unfamiliar places without a detailed map and directions or someone to help me.

4. When all my children are much older and no longer depend on me to drive them around all day and night, I plan to ride a motor cycle!

5. When I gave birth to my oldest son, I was really confused during the transition stage. I sat up, got off the bed and told everyone I would be back to "do this another day, when I feel better".

6. I found out there was no Easter bunny when I was about six or seven. I woke up to see my dad putting my eggs in my room. He denied it the next day. Dad!

7. I do not have a gallbladder anymore, due to surgery. I had tons of gallstones from my last three pregnancies.

8. My favourite chocolate is Cadbury's Fruit and Nut.

9. I used to play ground hockey for a few years when I was at school. I loved it.

10. I was also on the swimming team.

Day Seven - 10 Things

1. I enjoy sewing. I wish I could do it more frequently.

2. I love eating my dad's homemade curry. He makes the best lamb, beef, or chicken curry ever!
3. I am not a morning person.

4. I do my best reading, writing, crafting, planning, etc. at night after the house has quietend down.

5. When I was about seven or eight years old, I convinced my younger brother to eat a handful of sugar out of the palm of my hand. I am embarrassed (and very remorseful) to say that I had hidden a small red devil chillie in it. He cried for so long from the burn in his mouth. Please forgive me Sam!

6. I had my tonsils out when I was 14. At the hospital we had to fill in a questionnaire for the aneasethic. One of the questions was regarding smoking. I had to confess to my mom that I smoked on the sly. I'm sad to say I continued smoking a few more years, then I quit.

7. My favourite pizza is one we used to eat in South Africa. I think we used to call it South Beach. It is all the usual - tomato sauce, cheese and then also: garlic, bacon, pineapple and banana. Yes, banana!

8. My favourite pizza since coming to America is Pepperoni.

9. Another of my top ten movies that I love is the "Lord of the Ring" trilogy.

10. I love '80's music.

Day Six - 10 Things

1. My favourite dinner service pattern is Blue Willow.

2. I love toile design fabric and papers.

3. I love elaborate writing paper and greeting cards.

4. I have been told I make a pretty mean Shepherds (Cottage) Pie.

5. My first pet was a little puppy called "Tipsy".

6. One of my favourite sandwiches is a grilled (toasted) cheese and tomatoe.

7. I love white pepper more than any other pepper. I use black, red and green pepper corns, but my preference for certain things and dishes is white. (Especially mashed potatoes and homemade chicken noodle soup).

8. The board game I like the best, at this time, is Cranium.

9. I like going to county fairs in the summer.

10. I love spending a day at the beach with the whole family.

Day Five - 10 Things

Yes! I'm halfway!

1. My favourite subject in school was (and in college here and there, still is) English or Language Arts.

2. My second favourite is History.

3. My third favourite is Art.

4. I hardly ever get to take afternoon naps but when I do my favourite place is on my bed with a throw that Jethro gave me for Mother's Day.

5. I grew up in South Africa, in a really hot climate during the '70's and '80's. I once was so badly sunburnt from spending the day at the beach in the hot sun, that I couldn't wear clothing on my upper body for over a week. I had blisters that developed into one huge patch of festering skin that took up about one fifth of my back. In SA during the mid '70's when this happened, there wasn't that much awareness of the dangers of sun exposure. The doc told my mom to rub some Johnson's baby lotion on and ask the school if I could wear a skimpy top that didn't touch my burn patch (they said no! - I had to wear the uniform).

6. I went to see the Rolling Stones Bigger Bang Show with my husband and some friends in October this year. It was awesome!

7. I like raw cauliflower the most out of all vegetables I eat raw.

8. I love 100% orange juice.

9. I have sleep apnea and so I use a CPAP device. (When my nose is not stuffed up from newly acquired allergies, that is.)

10. My husband asked me to marry him by giving me a wrapped gift on his birthday!

Day Four - 10 Things

1. I prefer real Christmas trees to fake ones. Especially when we go to the farm to cut our own.

2. I have blue eyes, but sometimes they look green.

3. I love watching ER on Thursday nights. It's one of the few shows I watch on TV.

4. I hate grocery shopping. I only go because I have to.

5. I prefer email to telephone.

6. My favourite Thanksgiving pie is Pumpkin.

7. I wear make-up almost every day. Not too much, though. Mostly it is basic, - foundation, light eyeliner, mascara, and light lipstick.

8. One of my all-time-top-ten favourite movies is the Matrix trilogy.

9. I hardly ever drink coffee. If I do, it is usually so doctored it no longer tastes like coffee. Usually it is something like a "Decaf, caramel, butterscotch, vanilla, etc,etc," from Starbucks or the likes.

10. I am teaching myself French cooking here and there. Nothing major yet. Just a few simple ways and dishes.

Day Three - 10 Things

1. My favourite perfume is Pleasures by Estee Lauder.

2. I like listening to Josh Groban.

3. My favourite candle scent is Gardenia.

4. I was born in Durban, South Africa.

5. I have two younger brothers.

6. My favourite cheese is Gorgonzola.

7. I got to vote in the first democratic presidential elections in South Africa in 1994. I stood in line, 9 months pregnant, for over four hours to cast my vote.

8. I am always happy when I receive flowers, but my favourites are roses.

9. I read all the Nancy Drew books when I was a girl.

10. I always use fabric tablecloths. Never plastic or vinyl. Ever.

Day Two - 10 Things

I didn't post the day after my original post because I got sidetracked with Thanksgiving preparation. But, here is day two and hopefully I'll stay on track from now!

1. I love baking, and I'm really good at it too! I know that sounds very immodest, but I am. I could tell you all the things I'm really bad at as well, but this is something I totally rock at. I used to make my living as a baker (from home) when my oldest two children were little.

2. To balance things out, I'll tell you this: I hate math and I totally suck at it! Really badly.

3. I love champagne (especially sweet champagne) and wine.

4. I can sew almost anything if I put my mind to it. Even without a pattern.

5. I do not like root beer.

6. My kids brag to their friends about my homemade fries. And then their friends who have tasted them, bring others to taste them.

7. I am really scared of mice, rats and cockroaches.

8. I love eating Christmas cake.

9. I love going out for dinner. I usually choose steak or fish.

10. I read our local newspaper for the VIP's (Visually Impaired Persons), on a rotational team.

Ten Things For Ten Days

I've noticed on a log of blogs I read, that some of them have little posts here and there with titles like: "100 things about me," or "Ten things you didn't know about me."
I thought about it, and I'm making my own one. Here's why:

1. I haven't written in my blog for ever. I am overwhelmed with all I need to report back about. Telling you little bits about myself is easy. And ever so quick. And will get me going again. Maybe eliminate some of my haven't-written-in-my-blog guilt.

2. I get to tell you a whole lot of stuff about myself that you might not have known about!

3. I might get to tell myself a few things I don't know about myself.

4. It might be fun, and you might decide to do it as well!

Okay, so, I decided to tell you 100 things about moi. However, to make it d0-able, I am going to write ten things a day for ten days - hopefully! Here goes, day one:

Ten things:

1. I am a Christain. I was raised Catholic, but my husband, amongst others, helped me convert.

2. Since coming to live in America almost nine years ago, I discovered there are more ice-cream flavors than there are days in the year. Not just vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. No. There are at least fifty DIFFERENT types of chocolate. Twenty of vanilla. And such names! "Rocky Road," "Peanut butter cup caramel swirl tracks," "French vanilla," "Phish food,". My favorite is: Ta-Da! - Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia. It is sooooooooo yummy. (Okay, so #2 was telling you my favorite ice-cream just in case you never got that.)

3. I don't like milk. I hardly ever consume it. If I have coffee, I have flavoring or cream, never milk. If I have cereal, I have just enough milk to wet it, or I eat it with yoghurt or some other kind of fake milk like soy.

4. I love writing. I hope to be published one of these years.

5. I don't like driving. I find it to be a chore. I do it because I have to.

6. I prefer bathing over showering. I do shower, but mostly I like warm/hot bubble/oil baths.

7. I do not eat offal. Ever. No exceptions.

8. I always make sure I use really good comfortable bedding and linens on beds. I just love sleeping comfortably.

9. I am very tech-challenged. I need help with almost everything I do on the computer except emailing, googling and writing. My husband longs to get me one of those palm pilot thingys - I always decline. A good ol' paper calendar works just fine for me.

10. I love reading in bed at night.

That's day one!