Childhood Memories Meme

From Erica's blog comes this Childhood Memories Meme.

1. Colors... What was your favorite color when you were little? What color was your room? Was your hair a different color?

My favorite color was blue. Still is. My room had white wallpaper with deep pink roses twined all over it. Later, the paper was taken down and the room was painted white. When I was a teen I painted the metal double closet door light blue. My hair started out blonde until I was around 4. I had blue eyes too. Then eyes and hair both turned brown. Still have brown eyes, but the hair is going grey.

2. Toys... What were your favorite toys when you were young? What toy did you want to get more than anything else?
I loved to draw so was happy with a pencil and paper. I had an Etch-A-Sketch and a Spirograph and spent a lot of time playing with them. Had a Gumby that I loved until his wires began poking through the rubber. I always wanted a Pokey.

3. Pets... Did you have any pets when you were little? If so, what was your first?
We had gold fish, though The Brother liked trying to pick them up by the dorsal fin so they didn't last long. We had chicks one Easter. Every time you opened the cellar door, you heard peep, peep, peep. Don't remember what happened to them. I had a turtle named Sidney, but he developed some sort of shell crud. I held an elaborate funeral for him and buried him in the front garden. A girl The Brother dated gave him a kitten. Ma had kittens, but we kept the kitty with the unfortunate name of Ginnette (named by the girlfriend). The kitty turned out to be a male. He used to wait for me on the front steps to get home from school. When he saw me walking up the street, he would come running to meet me and walk me home. He went out on a fling and never came back.

4. Holidays... What holiday did you look forward to as a child? What did you do to celebrate?
I think the best holiday was Halloween. Getting all dressed up in a costume and going around the neighborhood begging for candy.

5. Food... Were you a picky eater when you were a kid? What were your favorite foods? Do you still like those foods today?
When I was 5, the only thing I would eat was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They called me the Peanut Butter Kid. I hated grilled cheese sandwiches so on grilled cheese day at school, Mrs. Burns would have a peanut butter sandwich for me as I went through the lunch line. What me spoiled? I must have overdosed on the PB because I don't really care for it much. I will eat it if I'm too lazy to make something else or there's nothing else in the house. I learned to eat grilled cheese. Not my favorite, but it will do in a pinch.

Anybody game to try?

Seven

Erica blogged on her Friday Five, Five Things She Loves About Fall. Summer ain't over yet, but the season is being rushed. So keeping in the spirit, seven things I hate about this time of year.

1. It gets dark so early. By 7:30p, you can't see your hand in front of your face if you're outside.

2. Cool temps during the day. 70 degrees is downright frigid. Give me 80s or 90s any day.

3. Chilly temps first thing in the morning. I want to enjoy a cup of tea in the sunroom without having to chip off a skim of ice first.

4. Goldenrod. Nasty stuff. Nothing worse than the feeling of your eyes burning, your nose both stuff and runny and a feeling like your dragging your butt.

5. Ragweed. See 4 above.

6. Sage. See 4 and 5 above.

7. Only a month or so left to use the sunroom.

Wednesday Weigh-In

After three weeks of standing still, I lost two pounds this week! I lost my first 10 pounds and am 1/4 towards my goal. I have modest goals. I want grapefruits not watermelons. Anything more than a handful is waste. I want a nipped in waist hour glass figure instead of a gumball machine. I want shapely thighs that don't go thubba-thubba when I walk.

Some fun things this week. To help cut down on the amount of fat, a friend clued me into Wishbone Salad Spritzers. It's salad dressing in a spray bottle. Comes in a bunch of flavors. Spray it on your salad. All the taste without drowning your salad in fat.

To make the time pass on the treadmill, I tried reading but the bouncing motion of walking made me motion sick. The TV is around the corner so I can't watch a DVD. I bought a wireless headset to go with the new computer. This morning with my headset on and Buddy Holly singing in my ears, I walked the mile. The Young One was just waiting for me to fall off the treadmill. I haven't got as good dancing the tread as the guys in the video.

What things have you done to make weight loss fun and less of a chore?

Seven

Seven sounds I like to listen to:

1. My girls' laughter

2. Wind in the trees

3. Rolling thunder as hundreds of motorcycles zoom by the house on summer weekends

4. Thunder

5. The coo of mourning doves

6. Rain drumming on the sun room roof

7. Ink, my cat, purring

What sounds do you enjoy?

Wednesday Weigh In

Color me frustrated. No gain, but no loss. This is the third week of staying on the plateau, and it came as a shock. I was on the scale on Sunday and I was down 1. I was so happy to have finally broken through this mind set barrier. Guess this is punishment for cheating and getting on the scale before the official weigh day.

Sigh. Better luck next week.

Joy

There is no greater joy than indulging in pleasant addictions. I got to do just that this weekend when Massachusetts suspended the sales tax for two shopping days. Items under $2500.00 were not taxed. Sales of homes, cars, boats did not qualify, but computer equipment did.

Himself had been a tad upset when he went to print some work and couldn't get the printer going. The Young One has been using my machine to play Sims and You Tube and who knows what else. I was able to get his work printed and then the discussion turned to maybe we should upgrade to a new computer especially since we'd save on the state tax.

That's all he had to say to me. I surfed Circuit City and found the machine I...er...we wanted. A Hewlett-Packard Pavilion Media Center. I've had two HPs and have had good luck with them. Off we went Sunday morning. We ended up going for a slightly larger machine as it was only $100 more than the one I had seen. Fine by me. We can make it bigger, better, faster. In under an hour, I bought the computer and a 22" monitor.

Oh, that new computer smell when we opened the box. Bliss! Himself toted, hefted, connected cables, and then left me to see about getting la machine up and running. Things hummed along nicely. The new HAL runs Vista and that's taking some time to get used to.

Most of the others Windows incarnations looked pretty much alike. My Computer, My Documents, My Pictures. This has changed in Vista and I found myself searching with the thought, "If I was a computer geek, what would I call this?" Had no problems downloading important programs like chat. Quicken went down smoothly and my backup imported like a dream. The only disappointment I've had so far is Mozilla Firefox 3 wouldn't download Shockwave and my fairly new Palm Z22 doesn't interface. (I'll leave that on the old machine.)

So, if I'm not around very much, I'm down in the bunker playing with new HAL

Seven

Seven addictions:

1. DVDs, especially if under $10.00 The $5 bin at Wallyworld is a huge temptation. Yesterday's haul: Windtalkers, Magnificent 7, Return of the Magnificent 7, The Pride of the Yankees (Gary Cooper), The Great Escape.

2. Art supplies. No matter how many paints, brushes, colored pencils, inks, and markers I have nothing beats a new box.

3. Electronics. I'm coveting a Blackberry, but haven't been able to rationalize the expense or the need for all the bells and whistles (yet)

4. Books. Can never have too many

5. Computer equipment. Like art supplies, new peripherals or devices are wicked.

6. Happy time wasters like IM, FB and blogging

7. Screen captures and making digital composites, another happy time waster.

What are your addictions?

Wednesday Weigh-In

Oinkies. I gained a pound this week. Twizzlers didn't help and because of the grey rainy days, I didn't haul my buns out of bed to walk the tread. Maybe advice from King Julien will learn me. Hope your week was better.

ATC Storage Box

I'm participating in a new ATC exchange. Received my first batch and decided they needed a storage box. So, I altered a Crystal Light Ice Tea to Go box. It was the perfect size to hold the 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" cards.

Wrapping paper was simply glued to the box. Motifs such as the kitty and the letters were cut from another scrap to use as appliqués. Sharpie markers were used to color the kitty black and to jazz up the letters. A red bow dresses up the kitty.

Need Writing Help?

The comma. Used to represent a pause. Or should that be paws?

Poem

Procrastination and high humidity were the excuses for putting off this piece. The first time I sat down to work on it, I was fighting everything, the ink, the humidity, nib, paper. I had a piece of Arches text wove, but the paper absorbed the humidity, it was like writing on a sponge. I couldn't find the box of my favorite nibs, Gillotte 1068A, so I grabbed something else. The nib kept grabbing the soft fibers of the paper. Still, the piece was turning out okay. Until I hit the next to the last line. I scribed the word "the" beautifully, I might add, twice. One right after the other. the the. Arrgggh!

This second piece was done on one of my favorite papers, Arches 90 lb. hot press, watercolor using a Gillotte 1068A and Moon Palace ink. The illumination was done with the same nib, Schminke Gold and Silver watercolor.

Seven

Yesterday, I had a reunion with a classmate from elementary school whom I hadn't seen in 40 years. We talked about our school experience, classmates and a plan for a class reunion. Hope you're working on that, Red! Conversation turned to differences between the games we played and our children play. We mostly played outside, all day long during the summer. Sure, we did things like read a book or draw, but those activities were reserved for days when you were sick, the weather was lousy, or no one was around to play with.

So waxing nostalgic, this week's Seven: seven outdoor games I played as a kid.

1. Kick the can. This was THE most popular game we played especially after supper until the streetlights came on around 8:15p or 8:30p. If you've never played, this game is a variation of hide and seek and capture the flag. A large can such as a coffee can or juice can is placed in the middle of the play area. "IT" stands near the can, back to the rest of the participants. One of the participants takes a running start, kicks the can, and everyone scatters to hiding places. "IT" retrieves the can, and then goes on a hunt to look for everyone. If "IT" finds someone, "IT" runs back to the can to tag it shouting out the name of the kid found. This kid has to come out of hiding and sit out near the can area hoping someone will come and kick the can setting him free.

2. Cigarettes. Everyone took the name of a brand of cigarettes, Marlboro, Salem,Winston, Lucky Strike. Hey! Nearly every adult smoked, and we didn't know better back them. "IT" had a ball. Everyone lined up in a row behind "IT". "IT" tossed the ball high in the air and called out the name of a cigarette brand. If your brand was called, you had to chase the ball while everyone else scattered. When "IT" caught the ball, "IT" yelled "freeze". Everyone had to stand still. "IT" would then try to lob the ball at someone. If the ball hit them they became the new "IT"

3. Baseball. We played on an empty lot next to Himself's house. Himself's dad would umpire our games at night. He always gave the little kids a couple two or three extra swings at bat.

4. Combat. A make-believe game based on the popular television show starring Vic Morrow and Rick Jason. We spent hours chasing the enemy through bushes, mud, and fields. Because I was the oldest (and bossiest) I was Lt. Hanley to Himself's Sgt. Saunders.

5. Jump rope, alone or with a group. If there were two players and one rope, the rope was tied to a railing so one swung the rope and the other skipped.

6. Kickball, a variation of baseball played with a large ball the size of a basketball or soccer ball.

7. Bike riding. Yup, that's 7 year old me in my hand-me down shirt and riding my hand-me down blue bike.

What outdoor games did you play as a kid?

Black and White

This months ATC theme is black and white. I was debating about passing this exchange up as I was stumped as to what I would do. I'd already done this theme in another exchange. For that one I marbled paper with sumi ink and then using white ink wrote out "The ink is black. The page is white together we learn to read and write" from the Three Dog Night song The Ink is Black. Since it was October and my black cat is named Ink, I also glued on black cat confetti. It worked well for the exchange, but I don't want to create the same thing. What to do?

I had some money burning a hole in my pocket. The Young One and I went to Michael's and I bought a Spin Art. It's basically a turntable where you put in a square of paper and as the turntable turns, you drop paint on it. That would work. I cut up a scrap of Arches 140 lb watercolor paper into 4.5" squares, put a square on the turntable and dropped sumi ink on. The Young One helped by varying the speed of the turntable or suggesting dropping the ink first and then turning the machine on.

I came up with some nice creations and am debating about writing on the card or finding some bit of fluff to embellish the card. Have to think on it.

This is the card I like the best and am fussing about having to cut it to the proper size. (2.5" x 3.5") Can you find the kitty, the pant leg and shoe, and the heart?

Wednesday Weigh-In

It's Wednesday Weigh-In. It's grey, rainy, raw. A dumb Victoria episode, "The Emperor of Rice", was on The Big Valley and the stupid scale didn't budge an ounce. Color me blue. For two days, I struggled to resist the temptation of the siren call of the cookies in the pantry. Hmph, I should have had a cookie. Guess I'll have to step up the walking speed. I was plodding along looking at art books and magazines while on the tread. Deep sigh, forlorn look.

I suppose I should focus on the bright side. I might not have lost an ounce, but I didn't gain either. There are 4 morning glories on the vine, and I finished lettering the poem. Better luck next week.

I've Been Everywhere (almost)

visited 17 states (34%)
Copied this from Erica's page. Listing all the states I've visited. I've made quite a few forays away from civilization.

And these are the foreign countries I've been to. They map doesn't mark Bermuda and the Bahamas though they were counted.
visited 4 states (1.77%)

What about you? How many states and foreign countries have you visited (not just driven through or stayed a few hours in an airport)?Create your own visited map of The United States
Create your own visited map of The World

Seven

Seven good things that happened this week:

1. Received a cowboy boot planter with star gazer lilies from Himself and the girls.

2. The Eldest surprised me with a pair of turquoise cowboy boot earrings.

3. My funny thing that happened wedding story won 4th place in Kaye Dacus' 500th Blog Post Contest

4. The star gazer lilies which were white and pink bloom blood red

5. Lee Majors' movie DVD, When I Find the Ocean finally arrived after nearly a two year pre-order wait.

6. The Young One and I are reading The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer

7. The Young One enjoyed watching Barefoot in the Park with me.