1. Are you an innie or an outie?: Innie
2. Have you ever worn bell-bottoms?: No
3. Have you ever written a song?: No
4. Can you make change for a dollar right now? Yes, with lots to pennies and nickels… Bill doesn’t use them, so I get stuck with them!
5. Have you ever been in the opposite sex's bathroom?: Yes, but not intentionally!
6. Have you ever smelled your own feet?: Unfortunately, yes!
7. Do you like ketchup on or beside your french fries?: On
8. Can you touch your toungue to your nose?: No
9. Have you ever been a boy/girl scout?: Never
10. Have you ever broken a mirror?: Not that I can remember
11. Have you ever put your toungue on a frozen pole?: Yes! Ouch!
12. What is your biggest pet peeve?: Ignorant and indifferent people
13. Do you slurp your drink after its gone?: sometimes
14. Have you ever blown bubbles in your milk?: I loved doing that!
15. Would you rather eat a Big Mac or a Whopper?: Neither
16. Have you ever gone skinny-dipping?: Yeah
17. When you are at the grocery store, do you ask for paper or plastic?: plastic
18. True or False: You would rather eat steak than pizza.: False
19. Did you have a baby blanket?: I don’t think so!
20. Have you ever tried to cut your own hair?: When I was a kid, I did a real hack job!
21. Have you ever sleepwalked?: Yes, when I was young
22. Have you ever had a birthday party at McDonalds?: I used to go to many, but we never had one of mine there.
23. Can you flip your eye-lids up?: Eeewwww! That is disgusting!
24. Are you double jointed?: No
25. If you could be any age, what would you be?: I’d be 17 again, but I do like where I am now
26. Have you ever gotten gum stuck in your hair?: Yeah
27. Have you ever thrown-up after a roller coaster ride?: No
28. What is your dream car?: a convertible whatever
29. What is your favorite cartoon of all time?: Bugs Bunny
30. Would you go swimming in shallow waters where, one year earlier, a shark had attacked a child?: ? What, am I stupid?
32. Have you ever eaten a dog biscuit?: LMAO!! Ummm...No
33. If you were in a car sinking in a lake, which would you do first: Panic, then open the window
34. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?: Yes, when I fell off a horse
35. Can you pick something up with your toes?: Yep
36. How many remote controls do you have in your house?: 4
37. Have you ever fallen asleep in school?: no
38. How many times have you flown in an airplane in the last year?: Once
39. How many foreign countries have you visited?: Canada
40. If you were out of shape, would you compete in a triathlon if you were somehow guaranteed to win a big, gaudy medal?: No
41. Would you rather be rich and unhappy, or poor and happy?: If I were rich, I guarantee, I would NOT be unhappy
42. If you fell into quicksand, would you try to swim or try to float?: Swim
44. Do you ask for directions when you are lost?: Reluctantly
45. Have you ever had a Mexican jumping bean?: Yes
46. Are you more like Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland?: Alice
47. Would you rather have an ant farm with no ants or a box of crayons with broken points?: Crayons
48. Do you prefer light or dark bread?: Dark
49. Do you prefer scrambled or fried eggs?: Scrambled
50. Have you ever been in a car that ran out of gas?: Once
51. Do you talk in your sleep?: Sometimes
52. Would you rather shovel show or mow the lawn?: Shovel snow
53. Would you rather be bitten by a poisonous snake or constricted by a python?: I’d avoid both at all costs
54. Have you ever played in the rain?: All the time
55. Which do you think is more dangerous: an angry bear or a hungry white shark?: Angry bear
56. Would you climb a very high tree to save a kitten?: No, but I’d get someone else to do it
57. Can you tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator?: no
58. Do you drink pepsi or coke?: Pepsi Twist
59. Whats your favorite number?: 3
60. If you were a car, would you be an SUV or a sports car?: SUV, I'm dependable and responsible
61. Have you ever accidentally taken something from a hotel?: No, I did it on purpose
62. Would you blow your nose at the dinner table?: No
63. Have you ever slipped in the bathtub?: Yeah, and broke my nose
64. Do you use regular or deodorant soap? Deordorant
65. Have you ever locked yourself out of the house?: yea, but I always found another way in!
66. Would you rather make your living as a singing cowboy or as one of the Simpsons voices?: Simpsons
67. If you could invite any movie star to your home for dinner, who would it be?: Sandra Bullock
68. Have you ever made a semi truck honk?: Yeah
69. Which would you rather live with: a huge nose or crossed eyes?: Nose

72. Have you ever returned a gift?: no
73. Would you give someone else a gift that had been given to you?: No, that's so cheap
74. If you could attend an Olympic Event, what would it be?: Equestrian sports
75. How many pairs of shoes do you own?: 5
76. If your grandmother gave you a gift that you already have, would you tell her?: No, both are dead
77. Do you sing in the car?: Every day

79. What is your favorite breed of dog? Dalmatian
80. Would you donate money to feed starving animals in the winter?: Yeah, they gotta eat too
81. If you were a bicycle, would you be a stingray or a mountain bike?: Mountain Bike
82. What is your least favorite fruit?: Banana
83. What kind of fruit have you never had?: kumquat

88. If you had to choose, what branch of the military would you be in?: Navy
89. Would you ever parachute out of a plane?: No
90. What do you think is your best feature?: Eyes.
91. If I were to win a grammy, what kind of music would it be for?: Soft Rock
92. What is your favorite season?: Spring or autumn
93. How many members do you have in your immediate family?: 4
94. Which of the five senses is most important to you?: Sight

I have dreams that I can fly. If I could have one super-power, I would say it would be the ability to fly. I wouldn't want wings... just the ability to do a controlled float in the air! Knowing that, why do some amusement rides, that shoot you into the air, scare the heck out of me? I was trying to figure it out, but I can't. I can go on any roller coaster. Put me on something as simple as a ferris wheel, I freak out. Strange!

What makes me happy?

• Hugging Bill
  
• shopping at Wegman's
  
• playing with my dogs
  
• walking my dogs
  
• daydreaming
  
• Pepsi Twist
  
• getting snail mail
  
• drawing
  
• more to come....
  

What makes me sad?

• When Bill is sad
  

You are a muse.

What legend are you?. Take the Legendary Being Quiz by Paradox

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words". Anna Sewell, "Black Beauty"

My friend L. left today with her husband on a trip to eastern Canada. I am now dog-sitter to her 'lil pooch, Benji. Now I have three dogs running around the house! Benji watches me as closely as my two dogs do... as if I will suddenly disappear into thin air!

You Are Edward From "Edward Scissorhands." You are very shy and often misunderstood. Innocent, sweet, and artistic, you like to pass your days by daydreaming and expressing yourself through the arts. You are a truly unique individual. Unfortunately, you are quite lonely, and few people truly understand you.

Take The Johnny Depp Quiz!

L. asked in the comments section what happened to my horses. Hmmm. I'll tell you about my horses. I've always had horses in my life. My father owned harness race horses, and we travelled alot when I was young going to the different racetracks in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states. I loved it... I preferred being "behind the scenes" in the stable and paddock area, watching the horses being fed, and groomed and tacked up. I was oblivious to the races. I would rather stand next to a stall door, and pet the horses nose while dreaming of having a horse I could take care of myself. At a young age, my father took me to riding lessons and trail rides. We would be in horse shows, though my brother got better ribbons than I did. We lived in the city of Scranton. Our friend Billy had alot of land in the country, and he kept horses. I used to ride his horses through the area's trails. We had one retired race horse being kept at a farm in Vermont, and my father decided to bring him down to PA. (My Dad bought land from Billy, and built the house, stable, hay barn, and a large fenced in paddock.) He was the first horse I could truly call my own. His name was Thorpe Paul. He was a champion in his own right, and he set the track record at Green Mountain Raceway in Vermont (a record that will never be broken since the track is now closed!). My father also bought a "middle age" Thoroughbred horse named Whistle, whom I used to ride during lessons. Whistle was originally trained to be a race horse, but he wasn't fast enough, so they made him a schooling horse. I was able to ride Thorpe for a few years, until he became too old, and then I started to just groom him daily. He loved that (imagine getting a massage everyday!). Sadly, during the winter thaw, Thorpe twisted his leg in some thick mud, fell, and broke his hip. The vet came out and there was nothing we could do. Thorpe was put to sleep. It was like the end of an era... so sad. We bought a Shetland pony, Nugget, from Billy, and she was a favorite of the kids in the family (though she was a terrible flirt and would break fences to get near male horses!). We also bought Scotty, a Quarter Horse, (the horse who nearly killed me) and we rescued Cojo, a Morgan. After some years, Whistle passed away. Then, in 1994, my father died. He and I did everything with the horses... it was a love for them that we shared. I did my best to care for them, but everytime I stepped foot in the stable I thought of my Dad, and became depressed. It was a very tough decision, but after discussing it with my Mom and brother Pete, we decided to sell the horses. Luckily, a friend of my brother Steve bought them, so they were in a good home, and also not too far away. I still miss them. I miss the long afternoons where you just hung around the stable, grooming the horses, going for a ride, cleaning the stalls. I really loved doing that. It was very peaceful for me. Hopefully, someday, I can do it again.

Benji is coming today!

I'm being harassed by a fly. I thought I killed it last night, so this must be his evil twin brother getting even with me. Anyways, I'm sitting here thinking about my sister. She called me from work last night. She is an operations manager for one store in a national retail chain. In the middle of the evening, a gang of youths carrying shopping bags burst into her store, while she was the only manager on duty. Within 3 minutes, they had their shopping bags filled with approximately $5,000 worth of merchandise. She said it happened so fast, it was like a blur. She was worried about her inventory. WORRIED ABOUT HER INVENTORY! I think perhaps she was in shock. I didn't think she saw the big picture here. I understand that inventory is important to a store's bottom line, but what I emphatically told her was "THANK GOD NO ONE WAS HURT!!!". She said they found a switchblade in the parking lot. Obviously these people meant business. I'm just glad everyone was ok.

Went back to "The Pottery Place" L. today. Our first pieces looked so nice! I love my daisy mug, and L.'s doggie wall pocket was great for a first time painter! Today, with egos bloated from our first pieces, took on even bigger projects. L. was quite ambitious with her choice of a tulip adorned birdhouse. Me? I was nuts for deciding to do a napkin holder with a mosaic pattern of my own design. We started out enthusiastic, carefully "staying in the lines". But as the hours wore on, our backs hurt, our butts got sore, and the lines got a little less neat! Even a peanut and beverage break didn't help. Our dogs were starving, and husbands were unfed, but we were determined to finish what we started! But, I am convinced that these pieces will benefit from the tired creativity we felt, and be the best pieces we have made yet! I can't wait to see the finished pieces! I'll try to get my digital camera hooked up and add some photos of our pieces to this page in the not to distant future.

As I sat in my brother's house yesterday, waiting for Bill to fix Pete's two computers, I looked out the screen door and saw my Mom's house. Summertime was the best time there. The house is in a big open field, surrounded by other smaller fields, woods, and an apple orchard. My Father built his dream home there, along with a large paddock for horses and a stable to house them, and a house for my brother. There was no noise... just the buzz of the insects, and the breeze blowing through the trees. It's so private. I was bombarded by memories, of summers gone by. I loved caring for the horses. I'd ride Whistle or Scotty up to the kitchen window and my Mom would look out and talk to us. I'd walk the perimeter of the field, picking wild blueberries from the bushes that abundantly grew there. I'd take my nephews into the woods and splash barefooted into the creek (it wasn't deep enough to swim, but enough to get everyone wet!). We had the cookouts where I would take all the kids on pony rides. I taught my nephew Chris how to ride by putting a bareback pad on Scotty, throwing Chris on his back, and making him hold on while I lunged Scotty on a long rope. Chris became quite the daredevil because of that! There are many fond memories of the place, but also very melancholy because it's all gone. My parents are gone, my horses are gone, and we are all-grown up with lives of our own. I have a longing for those care-free days sometime (though I wouldn't change anything in my presents, except perhaps for having my parents alive again).

August 13, 2002 This or That

Great selection this week!

1. Dr. Seuss characters: The Cat in the Hat or the Grinch? Definitely the Cat in the Hat... I think he is the coolest!
2."Anne of Green Gables" or "Little Women"? Actually, I've never read either one, but I did see the "Little Women" movie starring Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder, and I really liked that.
3.Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys? Nancy Drew... I have all the books!
4.Winnie the Pooh characters: Tigger or Eeyore? Well, this is tough... I like them both, as long as they are from Classic Pooh and not Disney Pooh. Hmmm... I'd have to say Tigger, buy a hair!
5.Which author: Judy Blume or Beverly Cleary? Judy Blume
6.Roald Dahl books: "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" (Willy Wonka) or "James & the Giant Peach"? "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory".
7."Harry Potter" or "Wizard of Oz"? Definitely "Wizard of OZ".
8.Curious George or Madeline? Madeline
9."A Wrinkle in Time" of "Little House on the Prairie"? I've never read "A Wrinkle in Time", and Micheal Landon ruined "Little House on the Prairie" for me.
10.Dr. Seuss again:"Horton Hears a Who" or "The Lorax"? I love both of them!

I will call today my Book Day. I had books due at three different libraries in the area. I made it to two. When you go to the dinky Whitehall Library, there is this little German woman there who rules with an iron fist. She reminds me of someone who would rap you on the knuckles if you got a little too loud! But so far, she has been nice to me, because I have been the model library-goer. I made my way down to the Allentown library. It's kind of sad when a library needs an undercover security guard. Libraries are such wonderful things, it's too bad that there are some people who want to ruin it. I'm not very partial to the Allentown library, because it's always humid there, and I can barely handle that musty book smell (I usually don't mind the musty book smell, but this almost seems to be mixed with a human b.o. smell, as if some slightly stinky people are living there). I did get some books on HTML, so I will strive to absorb as much as I can, and then transfer that knowledge to my webpage. My last book stop was Borders, my second favorite bookstore. I was pleased to find the newest edition of the Atlantic Monthly, with part two of the heartbreaking story of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. (as a side note, I find that I need to keep reading about the tragedy, as a way to come to grips with what happened. I read in the USA Today paper this morning about the air traffic controllers and what they went through that day. I still react the same... shock, sadness, anger... wishing it never happened.) I love books and magazines, words, music and art. I love to learn. It was a good day. The only thing I missed (and I could have kicked myself for forgetting!) was my fix of a grande Cafe Mocha. My mouth is watering thinking about it!

Bill told me at dinner tonight (manicotti, yum!) that the relocation company finally sold our old house in Clarks Summit. Thank Goodness Bill's company buys the house when they move you, or we'd be sitting on that clunker for over a year. I knew it would be difficult to sell. That was the worst house we lived in. The only good thing about it was that it was close to my family. It had ants, mice, and something that lived in the walls of the bedroom that came alive only at night, a busy road out front and tons of road noise, and many more bad things that I blocked from my memories. Of course, none of this was evident when we looked at the house. The house was owned by a realtor, and she hid it's shortcomings well. I feel that there was a black cloud over that place, and as soon as we got out of there, things got better for Bill and I. We're glad that's in our past!

I just spent two hours showing my sister Kathy via AOL IM how to set up her own blog! This truly is addictive!

	You are Kermit! Though you're technically the star, you're pretty mellow and don't mind letting others share the spotlight. You are also something of a dreamer.
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

I'm thinking about my nephew John today. His graduation party is this evening. He is 18 years old, and has whole life ahead of him. He starts Penn State University in a few weeks, and I'm proud of him that he is doing that. I hope he sticks with it. John is a very entreprenurial young man... hopefully, that will serve him well in his future. He has a good imagination, and I hope I had something to do with that. I always tried to get his to draw and to be creative. I remember watching him when his parents were working. We'd go for drives with my Father, his "PopPop", and then hang out til his Mom came home. I took him to Claw's N Paws animal farm, and took the most adorable photo of him that I think has ever been taken of him. I took him to college with me when I had to go to the studio to work on some homework. We used to hang out in the woods (where he would make "traps" using rope and such). He'd follow me around the field whenever he saw me outside. He was a good kid. Now I look at him and can't believe my eyes, and I'm both proud but sad as well. Why am I sad? Well, when they grow up, whether they are yours or are your brother's or whatever, they don't seem to love you like they used to. That sounds bad... I mean they love you, but the playfulness is gone. They are too mature for some of the silly stuff you did when they were kids. Oh well! That's life! I am proud of you, John. I lift my bottle of Pepsi Twist in salute to you!