Homecoming Celebrations

Every day when I come through the door, no matter if I've been gone 10 minutes or 10 hours, there is a huge welcome home celebration in my honor.

Upon hearing my car in the driveway, Oscar the cockatiel begins sqwaking. It's a high-pitched call meant for me to hear him and know where to find him. I'm part of the flock and he's calling me back to the nest. As soon as I open the door, I hear, "Hello, Birdy-Bird! Hello Birdy-Bird!" I must answer or the sqwaking continues.

Sneauball runs up and begins bouncing at my feet, begging for me to pick him up. If I do, he showers me with sweet little puppy kisses as his behind wiggles from all the tail wagging. He immediately tries to settle into the crook of my arm so that I must carry him with me. His life would be complete if I carried him snuggled in the crook of my arm everywhere I went. If I put him down, he begins a Bichon Blitz, which means he runs back and forth with this big smile on his face and his tongue hanging out, running for the sheer pleasure of running. It is a joyous celebration that sometimes includes Sophie. Often Sneauball tries to get Omar the cat involved but it usually just turns into Sneauball jumping on Omar's head a couple of times and Omar meowing protest.

Sophie's celebration also begins the minute she hears me walking to the door. She runs off and finds the toy du jour and runs with it to me, growling and "killing" it by shaking her head and her entire body while the poor toy is in the grasp of her little jaws. She will follow me, growling still with said toy, bumping into the back of my leg with her nose. I usually joke and tell E that my leg is growling again. Then she'll run ahead of me into whatever room I am headed to, still growling and "killing" her toy. Today it happened to be her favorite rope. She swings her head and body so fiercely and so close to me that she usually ends up whacking my leg with that thing. I swear the celebration goes on for a good 10 minutes and then she's done.

Omar is often in the back of the house, usually on our bed and seldom gets up to greet me. Instead he meows loudly in an effort to get me to come to him and give him a good scratch on the ears. As a cat, it is well beneath him to actually run to greet me.

Usually it is only after I greet the feathered and furry children that I get to greet my husband. Thankfully he understands as he gets the very same greeting every time he returns home.

I'll never know what it would be like to come home to a child of my own. But I've got to say that these daily welcome home parties are nothing to sneeze at. :-)

Learning Lessons Late in Life

I hope that in years to come I can look back and say with certaintity that it was in my 43rd year that I learned the true meaning of karma.

I come from a long line of negative thinkers. It has been passed from one generation to the next and it's a very hard cycle to break. Quite a few hours of mine have been spent with my therapist discussing the negative tape that has run through my brain all my life. For many, many years I've not been good enough, smart enough, thin enough, pretty enough, nice enough, loved enough, yada yada yada. I have all these negative visions and voices constantly droning on and on in my head. Because all this negativity is going on in my head so much of it comes out in what I say and do. I think I'm finally beginning to realize that if I spew negativity it just comes right back to me.

How much time have I wasted waiting for the other shoe to drop? How many minutes have I squandered worrying about finances?

Maybe spring is helping to clear the cobwebs in my brain. I have spent my evenings out on the deck for the past couple of weeks. Instead of letting all that negativity and worry invade my evenings with nature, I have made a conscious effort to stop the tape and just be in each moment. And, y'all, I think it's working.

Tonight (I'm ashamed to say for the first time in my life) I sat with my eyes closed and truly listened to the birds as they sang their evensong. I was in the moment enough that I recognized when it began. What had been relatively quiet suddenly became quite loud with the sounds of creatures as they began to settle in for the night. I listened to the little house finch in our tree sing, "BEEner, BEEner, BEEner". I heard the squirrels laughing at Sneauball because he ran after them when they jumped from the pergola to the tree. I hear the breeze rustle the leaves above me and the woodpecker working on a branch across from where I sat. E walked up and started to say something and I shushed him and told him to listen to the evensong and we both enjoyed it together.

I have made a conscious effort lately to put good thoughts and actions out there. I firmly believe that because of that, things have started to move in a positive direction for me. I also know that it has an awful lot to do with the fact that when you concentrate on doing positive things you also tend to concentrate on the positive things going on around you. Thankfully we are never too old to learn life lessons. I'm still enough of a realist to know that I'll slide into my old negative behavior at times. But if I'm aware enough to recoginze it when it happens then I will be able to stop it before it consumes me.

I am a seeker of peace, both internal and external. That is my new mantra.

Random Thoughts

Since I don't have a particular theme running through my head for this post, I'm making it another Random Thoughts segment. It's my blog, I can do what I want. :-P

I'm dying to know how long it's going to take that danged pool to clear up. E's been working himself to the bone. It's getting better. Today we can actually see the bottom in the shallow end. It's the right shade of blue but very cloudy. I should have paid better attention in chemistry class.

My friend Lisa posted about a little five year-old girl in her son's class that just got diagnosed with leukemia and it's been eating away at me all day. That was the age that my nephew Ty was when he was diagnosed nearly two years ago. I get so very angry when I think of little kids that have to learn to deal with illnesses and death at such a very young age. Ty is doing great. He's been in remission for a year and a half. His prognosis is fantastic. There's no reason to think he won't survive this. But he can spit out names of medications that no child should know. He can tell you all about spinal taps and MRIs and chemotherapy. He can also tell you that he lost his best St. Jude buddy Ricky last year - if he's willing to talk about it. It's just not fair that some kids lose some of their innocence because of these diseases.

I skipped the trivia tournament tonight because I wanted to spend the evening in my backyard. It was wonderful. [vbg]

E spent the afternoon dropping off resumes. He's really starting to think outside his normal employment comfort zone and I have to tell you I'm excited. I believe he'll find something very soon.

This weekend, if I can't swim in the pool yet, I'm planning to take my paints outside and start working on something. I've been feeling the need to paint again.

There's some Blue Bell Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream in the freezer calling my name. I'm about to give in to that temptation.

I'm going to try to write just about every day. I really enjoy getting my thoughts down in a post but am sometimes just too lazy to sit here and compose something.

Yep, that ice cream is winning. See y'all later.

Dinner Outdoors

I have my deck back and tonight I'm going to enjoy it.

Six months ago we made a huge mistake. I'll take most of the blame for it because it was originally my idea. I thought I needed a German Shepherd dog. I'd had a beloved GSD years back and was missing him terribly. I had always sworn that once I had a house with a fenced backyard, I would get another. So on the day after we moved into the new house, E and I drove up to Birmingham, Alabama, to pick up Rikka, a GSD rescue.

At four months Rikka only weighed 13 pounds. She was and remains a very, very sweet girl. We brought her home and tried to have her as an inside dog but a week into the process Sneauball began throwing up from stress. Bichons can be delicate little dogs and Sneauball threw up for four days once he realized that Rikka wasn't leaving. Since we'd originally said she'd be an outside dog, we moved her to the backyard and Sneauball was miraculously cured. [rolleyes] The two little dogs were completely intimidated by Rikka's size and they never got along. In fact, the little dogs finally just refused to even enter the backyard. If we forced them to, a fight between Sneauball and Rikka would always break out. Now, in Rikka's defense, I must say that she never tried to hurt the little dogs. She always just wanted to play. But she grew from a 13 lb puppy into a 50 lb puppy rather quickly and the little ones wanted no part of it.

Puppies can be destructive and the bigger the puppy, the bigger the damage. Rikka was no exception. She pulled the outlet cover off our outdoor outlet, chewed the garden hose down into six-inch pieces, chewed the clapper off my large expensive wind chimes, damaged three window frames by chewing them, tore the screen off one of the windows, destroyed two pool nets, and I'm sure I could remember one or two more things if I sat here long enough. She's also a barker. We tried everything to no avail. We sprayed her with water, used a no-bark collar, tried training, the works but she still loved to bark, especially in the wee hours of the morning. Instead of getting better, it's been getting worse.

Add to all of this the fact that E lost his job and we can no longer afford to feed a big dog.

Weekend before last, E came to me and said we needed to find a new home for Rikka. We had agreed with the rescue group that if we were ever to give her up it would be to them. So after much arranging and rearranging, today was finally the day. E brought her to Mississippi to meet the guy from the rescue group. Rikka will be put back up for adoption and will, hopefully, go to a home where she's an only dog and has lots of room to run and someone who can work really hard with her training.

It is definitely hardest on E. God saw to it that I never really bonded with Rikka but E sure did. She became a daddy's girl immediately and he's spent lots of time with her. I know it was very hard on him to hug her neck and tell her goodbye today but I know in my heart that this decision is the best for us all, including Rikka.

By the time I get home, E should have my large wind chimes fixed and hanging back under on the pergola. Tonight for the first time since we've lived in the house, we're grilling dinner on the deck. We're going to bring the little dogs out into their backyard and let them enjoy their space off lead without being accosted by a huge dog that wants them to play. We're going to watch the sun set from our deck and relax for the first time in six months. I know we've done the right thing.

Random Thoughts

I'm tired this evening. It's raining and I'm yawning and it's only 6:30 pm. How pathetic is that? Because of my lack of energy all you're going to get this evening is a few random thoughts. Sorry.

Tomorrow I'm wearing pink and at noon, the time the funeral starts, I will light a candle for Ginni. Many of the Ya-Ya Sisters are going to do the same so we'll have candles burning together around the world in memory of our Duchess of Grace.

I bought that flat of strawberries over the weekend and I'm tired of them already. Wonder how many pints I can get my sister to take. [vbg]

I'd been calling E Enrique, the pool boy, but he didn't like Enrique so I started calling him Pachitothe pool boy, but he didn't like that either. So he decided he wanted to be called Phillipe, the pool boy, but I keep forgetting Phillipe so I've been calling him Frappachino, the pool boy. It gets his dander up a bit but I figure, heck, if it gets him motivated to clean out the pool then so be it. If he'd hurry up and go back to work, I'd hire a real pool boy. [vbg]

My dog, Sophie, is curled up under the guest bed in here and snoring. It echoes and sounds like a buzz saw.

I should be knitting right now.

I'm going to apply for a part-time evening job on Wednesday at a local answering service.

I got to come home two hours early today because an electrical transformer blew at the office. This happens several times a year. One of the programmers suggested we move the office to a different grid. I wanted to kick him in the shin. One of the network techs asked if this was like school and we'd have to make it up. I wanted to kick him in the shin as well. Why can't these guys just shut the heck up and enjoy their free two hours? Don't look a freakin' gift horse in the mouth, fellas.

I've really missed my friend M lately. She's got a really busy life and we've not had much contact. But Ginni has a way of bringing folks together. M and I have talked several times since Friday and it's been good to hear her voice. Can't wait to get together with her soon.

Tonight E boiled some edamame (soy beans) for me and I shared some with Sophie and Sneauball. They loved them! Now every time I have edamame they'll demand their share just like they do with fortune cookies. Ingrates! [vbg]

Friday evening was a disaster. After having to deal with losing Ginni all day at work, all I wanted to do was come home and relax. E called and told me he'd cleaned off the deck. After that all I could think of was getting home, fixing myself some amaretto and pineapple juice, and spending the evening on my deck. So when I got home I proceeded to do just that. I fixed drinks for E and I then had the bright idea that Sophie and Sneauball needed to get used to being in the backyard with Rikka, the German Shepherd. I handed them to E on their leashes and brought the drinks out back. Well, no sooner than we stepped in the back than the fight broke out between Sneauball and Rikka and Sneauball was winning. So I told E to let them fight it out. As I sat down in my chair and place my drink on the little table, they decided to move the fight to my location. Before I could grab the drink, Rikka hit the table with her big 50 lb butt, knocking the drink over onto herself, the deck, and poor little Sneauball. So instead of a relaxing evening I had a wet, sticky dog to deal with and no drink left. Since the dogs needed grooming anyway, E and I ended up spending our "relaxing evening" bathing two dogs and a cat and grooming both dogs. By the time I finished two hours later I was covered from head to toe in dog hair. How easy well-laid plans go awry. Oy!

Yesterday vs. Today

Ok, I'm cross-posting this from my thread at www.ya-ya.com but it's all I can get out of my brain tonight.

Yesterday I walked around in a zombie-like state. My heart was hurting and I fluctuated between extreme sadness and deep anger because Ginni was taken from this earth.

Yesterday I came here to be with all of you to mourn Ginni and to remind each other what she'd meant to our sisterhood.

Yesterday I cried myself to sleep.

But today was a gorgeous, sunshine-filled, spring day. The temperature was a bit warm but there was a gentle breeze blowing.

Today I spent with my two closest girlfriends who have been in my life for years and years now.

Today we lunched and went to the Strawberry Festival and spent time as sisters.

Today was a day that brought a little healing into my heart. It was a day that had Ginni written all over it. It was a day to remind me how important girl time is with those I love.

Today I placed a sunflower that spins in the wind out under our crepe myrtle tree and it is for Ginni. Now everytime the breeze blows and that flower moves it will remind me of Ginni and how much she taught us all.

Today was about life and learning to live in the present the way Ginni did instinctively. It was about enjoying each minute as it came and not worrying about the one that just passed or the next one to come.

Today I remembered how to smile.

Cancer

My friend Ginni died this morning. She'd been fighting breast cancer for over 10 years now. She had been at the threshold of getting a stem cell transplant from her sister Karen but found out the cancer was too far advanced. That was just a week or so ago and now she's gone.

Ginni leaves behind her precious children, her sister Karen, her Aunt Joan, numerous other family members and a huge sisterhood at ya-ya.com. I had the great pleasure of meeting Ginni in person several years ago at a gathering in Dallas. Ginni was the epitome of grace and courage. She and Karen, although a year apart in age, were more like twins. I am blessed to be able to call both of them friends.

My heart is breaking today for those left behind, especially Karen. Cancer is such an evil killer. It seems to take those we most need here among us. Ginni was involved in several studies and it is my hope that others will benefit from her struggle and that this evil cancer is wiped out very soon.

If I were Queen of the World for 24 hours, I would...

This is a little game we played at Y's house the other night. It will make you think about what's important to the world as well as yourself.

1. Do away with the death penalty.
2. Make every country get rid of their nuclear weapons (Hey, Shrub! That includes the 200 or so you're hiding behind your back, jackass)
3. Legalize gay marriage.
4. Legalize every illegal alien already here in the US.
5. Throw out every Congressperson that voted in the Terry Schiavo fiasco. (That was so not cool, dudes)
6. Release all political prisoners.
7. Get some shopping done.
8. Have some lunch with my girlfriends anywhere they chose.
9. Shut down Fox (so-called) News.
10. Make sure everyone had access to free healthcare.
11. Make sure everyone had running water and electricity.
12. Take a nap.
13. Abolish the electorial college.
14. Bring our troops home.
15. Throw a big ol' dinner party.
16. Try to restore the worldwide reputation of the US.
17. Make sure that cancer and AIDS research had enough money to find a cure quickly.

Psst - Don't come here and rag on the things I would do. It's my 24 hours and I'll do what I danged well please. Instead, come here and tell me what you would do if you had 24 hours

Karma

God takes of fools and little children.
- Me

E just phoned to say that he'd received another unemployment check today. That's the payment for the week of back pay we thought he'd be getting but were told he wouldn't.

Like my friend Dixie Peach just said, "Whatever you put into the world is what will return home to you."

Amen, Dix.

Fear and Gratefulness

The unthankful heart...discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
- Henry Ward Beecher

I'm scared. There, I said it. I'm scared shitless right now. E still hasn't found a job, he didn't get the back unemployment that we thought he was going to get, and the bills have to be paid. Now, thanks to the tax refund, we're going to be ok this month but there are no guarantees for next month. We've been in our house for only six months now and I'm not losing it without a fight. But I am afraid.

Some days it gets to me more than others. Like yesterday, for example. Some days my commute home is carthartic as it gives me time to work things out in my head alone. But on days like yesterday, the longer I'm in the car alone the more I can freak myself out. By the time I got home I was a basket case. Poor E didn't know what to do with me. I walked around in a very deep funk and had very little hope. But today is another day and I awoke much more determined today. :-)

It hit me yesterday that I've heard the phrase "When E gets back to work I want..." come out of both of our mouths an awful lot lately. I suddenly realized that we've been spending too much time wanting things we don't have and not being grateful enough for things we do have and I was appalled. It hit me that I don't want a new cell phone, a maid, a pool service, etc. What I want is to keep what I have. What we have finally is a roof over our heads that belongs to us rather than someone else. We worked very hard to get to where we are and we need to spend our energy on keeping it. I am so very grateful for everything we have and I need to remember that at all times. It's time to change our perspective. So until E is back to work and things are solid again, there will be no more "I want" statements.

I've been going through a time where I'm not sure what I believe spiritually. I know that I believe in a higher power but I'm not sure after that. But I do think that wanting what we don't have, especially at a time when we're struggling does not bring good karma. A Higher Power can't be thrilled with someone who is not grateful enough for what they already have that they keep wanting more and more and more. It is a sad reflection on the society in which we live because it seems that no one ever has enough any more. That kind of programming is hard to change.

I'm going to start a new gratitude journal tonight and I'm determined to look for the small things in my day that bring me pleasure. Just now I pulled a can of Soup At Hand out of my desk drawer just knowing that it was creamy tomato because that's all I had left. When I popped the top to microwave it, I realized that instead it was creamy mushroom which is my absolute favorite and which I had been sure I was out of. It gave me pause to be grateful for that simple little pleasure. Tomorrow will be creamy tomato but that's just fine. The unexpected creamy mushroom has made my day. :-)

Time Changes and Middle Age

First I have to say how much I love, love, love Daylight Savings Time. I love having sunshine when I get home from work. DST allows me to spend time outside in the evenings that I just don't get in the winter. If I had any say so in the matter we would never change back.

That being said, I'm trying to figure out just when I stopped being a night owl and began being an old maw-maw. I'm thinking E had something to do with it but I just can't quite pin it on him. I used to be able to go to work all day then get home and have friends over and watch movies or play cards until after midnight then start all over the next morning. Why is it that now if I don't get to bed by 10 pm I feel like hell the next morning??? I swear it's because I married a (dare I say it?) morning person - bleh!

Take Saturday for example. E and I headed to my hometown to visit with my parents because my brother K and his partner C were there. We spent the afternoon with them then drove partway back toward home to have boiled crawfish with them. (Mmmmmmmmmmm!) In the meantime, my friend Y calls to ask us to have dinner at their house that evening and says that K and M will be there. I tell her that we were eating with the folks but we'd go by there after dinner for a visit. We arrived there at about 9 pm and had a fantastic evening. The six of us enjoy each other's company so very much. The wine was flowing and the conversation was great. At one point we went around the table stating what changes we would make if we were queen/king of the world for 24 hrs.

Time has a way of slipping away from you during an evening like that. I remember looking at my watch at one point and it was 10:55. The next time I looked it said 1:30. Then my friends kindly reminded me that it was actually 2:30 thanks to the time change. It was at this point that we all decided we must leave. E and I still had an hour's drive ahead of us afterall. By the time the goodbyes were said it was after 3 am. Thankfully I'd only had one margarita early on because E was feeling little pain. ;-) We fell into bed exhausted at 5 am.

Now just a few short years ago I would have been up by noon and off to get my share of the wonderful spring afternoon. However, yesterday that just didn't happen. E was hungover and I was dead. I spent the day in my jammies and couldn't get enough sleep. How pathetic is that???

I've decided I don't want to be middle-aged if it means I can't enjoy being a night owl anymore. The sad thing is that the dogs can't stand to be awake late just like E. He's poisoned their minds and mine as well, apparently. Somehow he'll have to be punished. [vbg]

100 Things about Barefoot Cajun

1. My favorite alcoholic drinks are chocolate martinis and amaretto with pineapple juice.
2. If I have 10 drinks a year, that’s a lot for me so why did I list alcohol first?
3. I love to sleep and can do so at any time of the day.
4. My first grade teacher (a mean nun) told be that because I was five that I was a baby and didn’t belong there.
5. I finished the end of that school year with straight A's but she got fired at mid-term.
6. One of my guilty pleasures is listening to the classic country radio station.
7. I was diagnosed with cancer when I was 28. I’ve been cancer free for 15 years now.
8. I’m inherently lazy when it comes to housework.
9. My niece is as close as I’ll ever come to seeing what a child of mine might have looked and acted like.
10. I love mint and chocolate chip ice cream.
11. If I could make a decent living at it, I’d still be a 911 dispatcher.
12. I love to drive and prefer to be the driver for just about everything.
13. My next car will be a red Ford Mustang GT convertible, hopefully a Shelby Cobra GT.
14. I haven’t smoked in nearly 16 years but if I put a cigarette in my mouth today, I’d be back up to two packs a day within the week.
15. It’s a dream of E and I to retire to Europe.
16. I love New York City and would live there in a heartbeat.
17. I give money way too much power in my life.
18. I hate to admit this but I used to be a registered Republican.
19. Thankfully, I came back to my true liberal senses as soon as I left law enforcement.
20. If given the choice between a beach and the mountains, I’ll choose the mountains every time.
21. My idea of an ideal spring afternoon is spending the day with my camera taking black and white photos in a New Orleans cemetery.
22. I had a pet baby duck when I was a toddler. His name was Donald and he was really smart.
23. He died when I accidentally sat on him while trying to get a bunch of cockleburs out of his feathers. I was just three at the time and I still feel horrible about it.
24. Game shows are another of my guilty pleasures.
25. My first word was kitty-cat.
26. I really regret not finishing college.
27. I have a really cool great aunt who happens to be a 91 year-old radical nun.
28. I love to do outside things like fishing but if I see a snake, it’s time to go home.
29. I can play the trumpet and loved being a band geek.
30. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss my grandmother.
31. I’m a trivia freak so I have a head full of worthless crap.
32. With only a couple of exceptions, I’ve managed to stay friends with every guy I ever dated.
33. If I were to go back to college today, it would be to get a law degree.
34. I remember the day President Kennedy was killed and remember seeing the funeral. I was not quite three years old.
35. I would rather take a beating than have to sew anything.
36. I have a brown thumb. Plants that are unfortunate enough to wind up at my house don’t live very long.
37. One of my favorite places on earth is Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
38. I’m a huge fan of American football and yell and cuss like a man when watching a game.
39. Most days I’m very happy that I don’t have children.
40. I love musical theatre. I’ve seen Cats five times, Les Miserables four times and countless others. Les Miserables is my favorite.
41. I could walk all around a bloody crime scene and never bat an eyelash but toothpaste spit completely grosses me out.
42. I feel naked without my cell phone.
43. I’ve lost my taste for coffee. Can’t stand to drink the stuff now.
44. I absolutely, positively do not want to ever wind up with a feeding tube in a vegetative state.
45. E and I were married on a stage in a theatre. I designed our wedding invitations to look like theatre tickets.
46. I am definitely not a morning person.
47. Another guilty pleasure of mine is South Park.
48. I love really silly movies like Airplane. One of my favorites is an old Zucker brothers’ film called Kentucky Fried Movie.
49. My brother and I both live by the rule that if it’s not chocolate, it’s not worth eating.
50. I’m afraid we’re never going to finish unpacking from our move six months ago.
51. I talk to my pets as if they were humans. So does E.
52. I wish I had a bowl of my grandmother’s bread pudding right now.
53. I try to sleep really late at least one morning every weekend.
54. One of my favorite sounds is my cat’s purr.
55. I love to knit but am afraid to try fancy stitches because all the instructions are for right-handers and I’m a lefty.
56. I love most vegetables but tolerate very few fruits.
57. I have a texture thing with some foods. I won’t eat citrus because of the texture of the pulp.
58. I eat only one food item at a time on my plate, beginning with the item I like least and finishing with the item I like best.
59. I don’t like to mix foods and until just a few years ago wouldn’t eat beans with rice.
60. I hate getting gussied up in the mornings. This is why I’m thankful that I work in an office where I can wear pretty much anything I want to work.
61. I’ve felt like an outsider all my life.
62. I would love to become a certified handwriting analyst.
63. I almost lost my mother at Thanksgiving and it made me realize that I’m not ready to live without her yet and don’t know if I ever will be.
64. I am so very proud of my brother and sister.
65. I can’t believe I lived on my own for so very many years. It’s hard to remember life without E.
66. No matter how tough it gets sometimes, I love being married.
67. I once applied for a job with the Beverly Hills Police Department. They wanted me to come out and take the test but I chickened out.
68. I’ve never lived farther than 90 miles from my hometown.
69. If I had enough money to live on without having to work, I would do nothing but travel.
70. Although I’ve been to Mardi Gras nearly every year for the past 24 years, I’ve never been in the French Quarter while it was going on.
71. I hate going to bars.
72. In 17 years of law enforcement I can count on one hand the number of times I actually had to draw my weapon.
73. I would love to own a set of Waterford crystal.
74. I love antiques and detest the contemporary style.
75. I record Jeopardy! every day.
76. I am so over The Apprentice and The Donald.
77. I remain a huge ER fan.
78. I love The Amazing Race and can’t believe I didn’t watch the first three seasons.
79. I love Jon Stewart and Bill Mahr.
80. I could sit and discuss politics and religion endlessly.
81. I love, love, love Barry Manilow.
82. As soon as E goes back to work I’m hiring a maid and a pool service.
83. My “free pass” would be Harry Connick, Jr. E’s would be Gwen Stephani.
84. I make an excellent chicken and andouille sausage gumbo.
85. I love to play games online.
86. I find it nearly impossible to believe that E loves me unconditionally and I am awed by the idea.
87. E has a thing about touching his scars or his belly button. Since finding this out I feel compelled to touch them.
88. I usually make myself fall asleep by counting backwards from 500 every night.
89. My favorite flower is a Sterling Silver Rose.
90. The scent of roses is my favorite smell.
91. I didn’t put up a Christmas tree last year.
92. I love it when my cockatiel says, “Hello, Birdy Bird!” as I walk through the door.
93. I love a good tropical storm or minor hurricane.
94. I’m fascinated by otters and meerkats.
95. I’ll ride any amusement park ride but I’m afraid to climb a tall ladder.
96. I love to turn up the radio and sing loudly in traffic.
97. Most of my friends refuse to play Trivial Pursuit with me.
98. I’m very competitive.
99. Every time I sit here at the computer, Sophie (our Peke-a-poo) sleeps at my feet.
100. I’m a descendent of King Louis XII of France. He wasn’t such a great king.