Well Mannered Frivolity

I was tagged for this meme by Angel

1.  I'm really good at Jeopardy, but I totally suck at Wheel of Fortune.  Seriously, the answer could be my name with all the letters showing except maybe the W and I still wouldn't get it.  But as far as Jeopardy is concerned I say bring it on, Ken Jennings.

2.  I am a horrible speller.  Of course, anyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows this.  One of the great things about homeschooling is that I'm learning how to spell right along with my children.

3.  I still sleep with a stuffed animal.  About 30 years ago he was a Pooh Bear.  Now he's just a grody yellow mass of, well,  yellow grodiness.

4. I can jump rope like a boxer.

5.  When I'm reading a book I always read the ending first.  I can't concentrate on the plot if I am worried about how things will turn out for the characters. 

6.  I tend to get obsessed with subjects for months at a time.  My husband should be cannonized for putting up with this particular habit.

7.  I hate to play board games.  Scrabble is my one exception.

8.  I once became a Mormon for a boy I thought I loved. Yes, I made a major life change for "love." The conversion didn't even last as long as the relationship.  By the way, the guy was a self centered jerk.

9. I minored in Religious Studies in college.  I would love to go back and get my BA, but since I have neither the time nor the money to do so I am "home colleging" myself.

10.  I have three celebrity crushes--Kevin Spacey and Vincent D'Onofrioand Craig Ferguson 

My husband teases me unrelentlessly about #10.  He seems to think I have a thing for dorky guys. He fails to see the irony of this statement. 

I'm tagging Shawna Lee and the mysterious lady known only as Making a Person

Music is a very important part of life here at Chez Friv.  One of the many great things my 'rents instilled in me was an open mind when it comes to all types of media.  I'm trying to do the same with my children.  Contrary to public opinion, not all conservative Christian  homeschooling parents think listening to music with a beat is a direct ticket to hell. I do personally know people who subscribe to that belief. I'm cool with it.  If they are right, though,  then I am in for it.  But at least I'll have good music to listen to as I fry in the lake of fire and brimstone. (Stepping aside now to avoid the lightening bolt God is smiting me with).  

I got a pink ipod nano for my birthday.  In addition to being super-cute, it holds somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 billion songs.  It took me a week of concentrated effort to learn how to use the dad blasted thing.  I was so frustrated I almost grabbed one of the many young teenagers who mill about our subdivision with cell phones attached to their ears so I could get them to like, ya know, show me how to use the aforementioned @#%$# ipod. I had to go to the store to get the ipod myself because Bill didn't know where to buy one.  He actually did not know exactly what it's purpose was, so there was no help on that front.  For a while we all just looked at it and circled it.  All we needed was Also Sprach Zarathustra* playing in the background and we would have looked like the opening scene to 2001 A Space Odyssey.  Only our monolith was much tinier and we couldn't get it to  play Also Sprach Zarathustra (or anything else for that matter). Finally after much trial and error, chanting of incantations, and sacrifycing a young goat during a full moon I got my music (and audiobook) downloaded.  Or is it uploaded? Who the heck cares.

My brother (who just so happens to be a computer genius) is of the opinion that Bill Gates is the antichrist.  I'm beginning to think he might be on to something.  In fact, I like to take the theory a little further and say that Steve Jobs is at the very least a minor demon himself.  Their products do cause many of us to break the third commandment after all.  

Wendy

*For those of you not familiar with 2001, you may recognize Also Sprach Zarathurstra as Ric "The Nature Boy" Flair's theme music.

Apparently my name is quite unusual.  My last does not rank.  According to these people my family and I don't actually exist.  Cool!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 347 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

If you are sorely lacking in a sense of humor please skip this article.  You will be offended.  I, personally, took offense at one statement.  The author is operating under the delusion that Baptists prefer barbeque.  It is a well known fact that we actually  prefer fried chicken.

Take a minute to pray for your eternal soul, then go enjoy a naughty chuckle.

Everything you wanted to know about Christianity 

Wendy 

Today we went on a field trip to a corn maze with our homeschooling support group.  Last night I put fresh batteries in our camera and made sure the memory card was empty, so, of course, I left the camera at home.  Sadly I will have  no cute pics of my thouroughly suburban kids having farm fun.  The corn maze was huge and slightly creepy.  I half expected He Who Walks Behind the Rows to jump out and get us (or me anyway--the kids were safe since they are under 19.)  Another mom and I stuck pretty close together.  It's nice to know I'm not the only kook grown up afraid of corn fields.

I don't normally watch the local news.  Tonight I made an exception.  You see, I needed to know what tomorrow's weather was going to be like so I can lay out the proper church clothes for my children and me.

There is this local story that is utterly horrifying.  A mother smothered her 9 month old twin boys.  Maybe this story is more horrifying to me because I have twin boys. I don't know.

Apparently the funeral was today.  Of course the news people were there.   There were family members so upset that they couldn't stand without support, literally collapsing under the grief.  The news camera got it all on tape for our viewing pleasure.  Then, of course, they zoomed in for the money shot.  Two tiny  bread box sized caskets lined up side by side.

The automaton giving the blow by blow  gravely informed us that the mother would be charged with homicide by child abuse rather than murder.  After explaining the difference, and without missing a beat, the newscaster put on her perkiest smile and said "Now for our other big story: The Weather."  Apparently it may get down to 40 degrees tonight. Well, whoop-de-freakin'-do.  Who writes this crap for the TelePrompter. Unseasonalby cool weather gets equal billing as double infanticide? Not in my book.

Wendy 

I've "bolded" the ones I've done 

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business 

68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken

69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
26. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

 I got this from Fruit in Season. If you decide to play along, let me know.

Wendy 

This is conversation between a 16 year old boy who is quitting school and his English teacher, Mr Tweed--

"I'm sixteen.  I can leave.  I'm going."

"You hate school so much, you want to throw the rest of you life away?"

"That's not how I see it, sir.  I just don't like to be in an institution where they tell you where they would like you to be by ringing a bell.  I feel like a lab rat."

"Don't be ridiculous."

The conversation would have gone on, perhaps Tweedy would have talked him out of it, but the bell rang and he had to go and force-feed Dickens to 4B.

Between the Bridge and the River Craig Ferguson