Monday Meme

This is a long one.  It is brought to you via Tense.

A
Always: remember to breathe.
Average: is not as bad as everyone seems to make it out to be. We can’t be outstanding at everything.
Annoyance: lately, I’ve been annoyed by people who don’t understand which side of the road to use while walking or biking.
Age: I’m 40 and proud of it.

B
Best Friends: are terribly important.
Beer: doesn’t agree with me. I prefer wine or a Mike’s hard lemonade.
Birthday: My birthday is in the deep dark of winter. I’m considering celebrating my half birthday in the warm sunny.
Boast: I am a goddess in the kitchen.

C
Crush:I’m still irrationally in love with my husband.
Car: I drive a little black VW Golf (with which I am also irrationally in love)
Candy: I’m more of a chocolate person, myself, though I do like a nice jelly bean every now and then.
Cry: I’m doing this a lot more often. It sneaks up on me lately.

D
Days:sometimes go by too quickly, sometimes seem interminable.
Dream: I wish I could remember (or, even better, direct) more of my dreams.
Dare: I’m not one to do things on a dare, really; I’m kind of boring that way. If I wouldn’t do it otherwise, I’m not going to do it just because someone dared me to.
Drug: not for myself, but I’m really grateful that there’s such a thing as good, strong pain meds. I’m on a first-name basis with the pharmacist who’s been filling Mom’s prescriptions.

E
Easy: we tend to discount the things we do easily and well. I’m very good in the kitchen, I can drive a stick like a pro, and I’m a very good listener.
Eggs: are one of my weird foods (tomatoes and cheese being the others). I like them, but only in certain ways. Eggs need to be mixed; I’ll eat quiche or scrambled eggs or souffle or custard, but I recoil in horror at fried or boiled eggs.
Email: is wonderful. How did we ever get along without it?
Envy: right now, I’m envying people who don’t have to think about someone they love dying.

F
Flavors: Squint your eyes and look closer / I’m not between you and your ambition / I am a poster girl with no poster / I am 32 flavors and then some

Favorites: Oy! Favorite WHAT!? My favorite frozen dinner is Lean Cuisine Peanut Chicken, my favorite potato chips are Lay’s original, and my favorite place to be is wherever my husband is.
Flaws: You want a list?! I’m headstrong, I’m too quick to trust, I often rush into things without thinking them through, but I also procrastinate like a professional (how’s THAT for a contradiction?)
Finicky: I’m fussy about a lot of things; how the bed gets made, that nothing gets left on the bathroom floor, and how my iPhone is set up, just to name a few.

G
Grateful: is a philosophy that guides my life. I have much to be thankful for, and I make gratitude an active – and daily – practice.
Gifts: are getting harder and harder to think up for my husband.
Gum: always sugarless, can usually be found in the armrest compartment of my car.
Gross: vomit. Bleh…

H
Hair: red, curly and, at the moment, a tad bit too long.
Height: has never been my strong suit. I spent most of my life at 5′2″, but it turns out that yoga has stretched me an inch.
Happiest: The last 17 or so years have been the happiest of my life, and I fully expect the trend to continue.
Hate: is something I avoid. Unless we’re talking about vomit and, if you don’t mind, I’d rather we didn’t…

I
Ice Cream: MMMMmmm! Peanut butter fudge, please.
Instrument: I’m good with a yoga mat, does that count?
Idols: all of my idols are humanitarians.
Independence: is highly overrated. I prefer inter-dependence, myself.

J
Jewelry: is something I have quite a lot of, but I always end up wearing the same stuff.
Jail: is someplace I hope to never be. Auntie, however, is there a couple times a week.
Jenga is not as fun as it seemed in the commercials.
Jammies are some of my favorite clothes. Comfy tee shirts and pants or shorts, depending on the season.

K
Kids: I’ve got two of the best ones ever.
Karaoke: is something that is not on my bucket list.
Kicks: I could often benefit from good, swift ones in the can…
Kiss: I’m not a big fan of the band, but I adore the activity!

L
Longest: the longest day of the year is coming up soon, is it not?
Life: is good.
Lost: I’ve never seen an episode, and now that I have maps on my iPhone, I’m almost never lost in real life, either.

M
Milk: I must always have at least one full gallon in the house. Ovaltine is essentially my morning coffee (and there MUST be milk available for cookies!).
Miss: I’m going to miss my mother.
Movies: We’ve been watching a LOT of movies lately. Mr. Chili and I saw Angels and Demons and Star Trek in one week (that may be a record for us), and we rented National Treasure II to see with the girls a while ago. Night at the Museum was fun, but we preferred the first effort.  I’ve watched a bunch of movies with Mom; I should probably make a list…
Memory: a lot of my childhood memories are inaccessible to me, and I think that’s probably for the best.

N
Nails: I wish that mine were stronger. I like having pretty hands.
No: is an important word, but it’s not my favorite.
Name: I’m still grateful to Kizz for naming me Mrs. Chili. I love my online name.
Never: underestimate my power.

O
Ordinary: isn’t such a bad thing. Ordinary is comfortable and familiar and gentle. Life shouldn’t be non-stop white-knuckles and adrenaline, I think.
One: is often not enough.
Office: I don’t have one. Well, that’s not technically true; I still have my office at L.U., but I’m not even a little attached to it. I’d like, someday, to have my own classroom; I don’t really care whether I get my own office.
Only: you can prevent forest fires.

P
Pet Peeves: bad grammar, people who don’t know which side of the road to use, people who come to a full (and unnecessary) stop before MAKING THEIR FUCKING TURN, ALREADY!! and my children leaving their crap all over the house.
Primal urge: Huh. I’m not sure I can come up with a snappy answer for this one. Oh, wait; I know – the urge to put my hands on my oldest daughter (and not in a good way) when she’s being a bitch. MAN, can that kid push my buttons!
Personality: is overrated. Character is what counts (and yes, there’s a difference)
Pain: is a lot easier to endure oneself than it is to watch in someone one loves. Ask me how I know.

Q
Quick: the kids are coming; hide the chocolate!
Quirk: I can’t go up or down stairs without counting them in my head.
Qualms: I’m having serious qualms about some of Punkin’ Pie’s friends. All of them come from severely broken homes and are, I fear, a bad influence on my baby. I’m looking forward to summer and her time away from them.
Quest: I don’t really have a burning quest at the moment.

R
Reason to …: get up in the morning; my husband, my children, my mother, and my friends.
Reality TV: is absurd and a complete waste of energy and resources. It may well be one of the horsemen of the apocalypse.
Rage: frightens me.
Regret: is another waste of energy. What’s done is done. Try to act in such a way that you won’t have regrets in the first place.

S
Song: I wake up with a different one in my head. This morning, it was this one:

Season: Summer, without question.
Shoes: I’m not a shoe person. I’ve got a pair of sandals and some sneakers for spring and summer, and a few sets of heartier footwear for winter. I don’t collect shoes.
Silly: some of the things my 10-year-old thinks are funny.

T
Time: I, like almost every other person who’s ever lived, don’t feel I have enough of it.
Ticklish: I am. He’s not. This pisses me off.
Taste: I think I have good taste; clean, simple, uncluttered.
Torment: I am occasionally tormented by my past and the fact that I had few good examples for how to life a strong, productive life. Having to make this stuff up on my own sometimes gets exhausting.

U
Undress: I have no problem undressing. I don’t mind being naked in the locker room, I’ve undressed for strangers in drawing class. I’m not ashamed of my body and I don’t really care who sees it.
Unpredictable: Punkin’ Pie is running the gamut of behaviors and moods and attitudes lately. Poor kid.
Unfortunate: for all that my formative years were dysfunctional, I don’t consider myself unfortunate at all. Yes, I’ve had to figure out a lot on my own, not having had reliable adults to model for me, but I’ve made my way okay.
Unforgettable: My wedding day, the girls’ birthdays, and, I’m fully expecting, the day Mom crosses over.

V
Vegetables: I like most of them, especially in a nice, big salad
Virgin: Atlantic. I hear their business class is a joy.
Vacation: With the in-laws this year (again). I’m having anxiety already.
Voice: I don’t sing (except in the car), but I have an appreciation for those who do it well.

W
Worst Habit: procrastination.
Wish: That Mom’s crossing is calm and welcomed.
Waste: We throw out a lot of cold cuts. We need to remember that they’re in the fridge and make sandwiches now and then.
Wander: I love to wander through shops, though I rarely buy anything.

X
X-Rated: I’ve only seen one or two movies; they didn’t impress me.
X-Rays: I get them fairly regularly at the dentist’s and chiropractor’s.
X-Men:. We watched the first two films the other day. The third is on TiVo, and we’ll probably wait until Wolverine is out on DVD.
X-marks the spot: on the map right over my house.

Y
Year born: 1969
Yes: is one of my favorite words, and an important part of my life’s philosophy.
Yellow: is a great color for sticky notes.
Yearn: I have, for as long as I can remember, felt a deep longing for some nameless thing. If I sit quietly, I can still feel it, though I still can’t put words around it.

Z
Zoo Animal: tigers (or, if the zoo is an aquarium, seals).
Zodiac: Capricorn. Craves order and constancy; is hard-working and fiercely loyal.
Zealous: I’m enthusiastic about equality and fairness. I’m a true and faithful friend. I care about my role as a mother and my work as a teacher. I’m an amazing wife.
Zzzz: Mmmmmm…. bed……