Various things for Aerin

I’ve been tagged by the lovely Aerin to tell you all some various things.... okay, so here goes:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning (like this).
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves (if they can).
3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5-6 people and posts their links, and then leaves them a comment, yada, yada – I’m skipping this one. If you’d like to play feel free to take the meme as your own, and drop me a comment so I know to visit.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer (and link love is always appreciated)

A Meme about Various Things

What were you doing ten years ago?

Summer of 1998... I had just completed my first year of marriage (I say that the way most people talk about completing prison time... la, la, la). I had just turned twenty five, we bought our first home (which we still live in) and it was my first summer as a stay at home mom... it was a big change year for me... my daughter was well under a year old at the time, so we didn’t do much of the summer/swimming fun stuff that’s become part and parcel of the season for us over the years... I think I was pretty much just getting my bearings at the time.

What were five things on your ‘to-do’ list for today (in no particular order):

1. Littlest guy’s baseball game... (He’s a Cub! Huzzah!)
2. Bring snacks for all the kids on the team (I was snack mom today)
3. Catch with oldest, as she wanted some practice for softball.
4. Work on a few revisions... and I got in a few pages on new wip
5. Can I include cleaning/dishes/laundry/and feeding the family all as one line item – they have to get done daily and five things is a little light for my daily to-do’s.

What are some snacks you enjoy?

Oy, this could be a long list... it depends on my mood...
- yogurt (I’m loving the strawberry cheesecake kind lately, and keylime pie’s always good)
- Guacamole (I know it’s fattening but I do like it)
- Salsa and chips
- Cheese and crackers
- Fresh fruit – watermelon, strawberries, honeydew, cantaloupe, grapes... pretty much anything citrus... mmm... I hate cutting it all up, but I love having it with breakfast or after dinner...

What would you do if you were a billionaire?

Selfish wants.... hmmm.... okay, I love my neighborhood and all my neighbors are awesome, but I’d love a house with a full, renovated basement – preferably one with a kitchen, where we could have family parties and such. I’d also love a bigger regular kitchen with more counterspace because I actually like to cook and bake and could use the room... oh, and my own office and library would be heavenly.

After all of those basics, I’d like to take the family on one nice vacation a year and set up good size trust funds for each of my kids so they wouldn’t have to worry about college or starting out stuff... no college loans to pay off or saving for years to be able to put money down on their first homes... heavenly, I just hope that wouldn’t make them so spoiled that I would be forced to make fun of them.

Otherwise, I don’t have a lot of selfish wants... I might splurge on travel as there are some places I’d like to see, and it would be absolute heaven to never have to worry about income and keep writing to my hearts content... but I can live without all of that, and likely will.

I’d also be a sucker for an enormous amount of charity and would use some of the time that I’d never have to spend working for money to volunteer somewhere where it would be appreciated and needed.

What are three of your bad habits
1. My motto should be, “I’ll procrastinate tomorrow”... seriously detrimental.
2. I am completely disorganized in every area of my life except my writing... odd huh? My manuscript is in order at all phases of the writing process and I update my query/agent research every time I run across something new or anything needs to be noted... my house and schedule on the other hand... well, I never miss anything for the kids but I’m often running around like a nut trying to play catch up because I forgot middle one’s little show thingie was on the same night as oldest’s chorus party... stuff like that keeps me hopping... and my bills are more often in a pile than organized at all.
3. I live in my head... this is actually a plus for the writing facet of my personality, but it’s a detraction to all of the normal people around me... Before the kids I was very social, but my social life has revolved primarily around them for the last ten years and I find myself more daydreamy now than I was in high school.. which amuses me, but annoys a lot of the people vying for my attention at times.

Five places you have lived:

Sorry guys, can’t really answer this one. I’ve always lived in Chicago or the chicagoland area... I could list five towns/neighborhoods, but I don’t really want to draw a roadmap to my house in an online venue

Five jobs you have had:

1. Waitress
2. Receptionist
3. Executive Assistant (really a secretary but the fancy title kept me from asking for a raise... )
4. Stay at Home Mom (should include combat pay, but I’ll digress)
5. Freelance writer (mostly web content business writing)

Last five books you’ve read:

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer – I’m currently reading this one and loving it... I know I’m a little late to the party, but I’m glad I finally picked it up.
2. Girls In Trucks by Katie Crouch
3. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café Really late to that party, it was on my to be read list for a very long time and I adored it.
4. Atonement Yeah, I know, I’m like years behind the trends... that’s because my to be read pile is so flippin huge... wait – Girls in Trucks was a newer release... there, ha.
5. Diary of a Whimpy Kid - I stole this one from my daughter, it’s all the rage among fourth and fifth graders, and it’s really pretty good.

Ello added another great category, so I’m taking her lead... Five movie quotes I love, points for you if you can guess which movie they’re from. Granted, the points aren’t worth anything but bloggy bragging rights, but still a fun game for all.

1. “Candy-gram for Mongo.” - this movie is intensely quotable, I also like:
“I didn’t get a hurrumph outta you!”
“Hurrumph, hurrumph”
“Watch your ass...”

2. “You'll slap me? You slap me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize.” – Okay, this one’s a real toughie unless you’re a big time old movie buff... I’ll give you a second quote from the same picture to help your odds a little
“Let’s go and say a prayer for the boy who couldn’t run as fast as I could...”

3. “You know, for all that pirates are clever-called, we are an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things”
“Like?”
“I once sailed with a geezer lost both his arms and part of his eye.”
“What did you call him?”
“Larry”

4. “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.”

5. “What is the matter with you? I thought Mothers were sweet and nice and patient. I know loan sharks who are more forgiving than you. Your husband ain't dead, lady. He's hiding.” (that’s from one of my favorite Christmas movies...)