Category Archives: Family Matters

Pop Quiz

op Quiz Baby!

So, how well have you been paying attention? It’s very simply really. The person who answers the most questions correctly will get a prize. Yup. That’s right. A FREE gift personally mailed by me to you. It’s very simple. Read. Answer. Email. Fun for everyone!!!

Question 1:
Kevin was scared when he walked into the bedroom because I had……changed the bedding from blue to pink.

Question 2:
The book I am trying to locate is called….. The Resistance by Katherine Rusch (anyone seen it for under $50?)

Question 3:
If I were to get a tatoo, the design would be a….the zodiac symbol for Taurus.

Question 4:
I once spent a whole weekend watching reruns of …..The Facts of Life – Tootie rocks.

Question 5:
I learned the hard way that you should not feed your dog what kind of candy? Twizzlers. Remember this one. It might save you a lot of carpet scrubbing later in life.

Question 6:
The name of the weapon used by Klingons in premiere of Star Trek Enterprise is……..disruptor NOT phasor. Duh.

Alright, think hard and email me your answers. Just to make sure there are no cheaters, I have disabled the Archives so don’t be thinking you could click your way to the answers. I’m on to your tricks. Answers and winner to be announced sometime next week…..

Kiss and Tell

Last night on the radio was a silly little country song about remembering your first kiss. I asked Kevin about his and he told me the story of walking down a snow covered street with his date for the night, holding hands, and having his first kiss. It was very sweet. I told him about sneaking off the playground with Kyle Castle and kissing in a door way in front if his friend Carl on a dare. Of course, the major difference here is that Kevin was in 11th grade and I was in 4th grade. So I’ve go about seven years more kissing experience on my resume but he’s a surprisingly fast learner so I have no complaints.

After laughing over this, we both sat quietly in the car for a moment and then Kevin turned to me and said, “I don’t remember our first kiss. Do you?”

I didn’t either.

Strange, huh? I suppose, at the time, Kevin was just some guy I had gone on a few dates with. I didn’t know that we would last through college and long after into marriage so when that first kiss did happen, I didn’t bother to savor the moment. I wish I had.

We were able to piece together some foggy recollections of an early kiss and have decided to name that the first kiss. Seems kind of strange that my most memorable kisses where with people other than my husband. In retrospect, Kevin has decided that if he could go back in time, he’d start kissing sooner. Upon further questioning, he has assured me that women were throwing themselves at him all during high school but he was too shy to put the moves on them. All I can say is if Kevin gets to go back in time to use is moves, I get to follow so I can watch. Having been the object o’ Kevin moves, I can assure you, watching Kevin playing Rico Suave in highschool would be hilarious.

Which actually leads me into a bit of a side rant. What’s wrong with cute??? I mean, every time I tell a man he’s cute, he gets all upset. “No, no,” he cried in protest “I don’t want to be cute. I want to be dangerous and mysterious and sexy. Anything but cute!” Kevin constantly become upset when he tries for sexy and I respond by squealing “oh Kevin, you are just soooo cute!” But he still insists that he is trying to jump from cute to sexy even though I much prefer cute. Silly Kevin.

Sigh

Have you ever wondered how a computer knows exactly when you have the most unsaved information on the screen? How it senses that if it were to crash, right now, it would totally destroy all those documents you had just spent all afternoon creating?

Is it born with this ability or is it programed in at an early age?

There is nothing worse than having to recreate. And it’s only Tuesday. Sigh.

Things I Did

1. Slept in till 12:30.
2. Survived Kevin’s mystery meal.
3. Ate ice cream in front of a roaring fire.
4. Played Diablo on the computer.
5. Watched Evolution and Stealing Beauty.
6. Finished a cross-stitch project.
7. Paid bills.
8. Vacuumed.
9. Talked to my parents.
10. Brunch with Kevin’s Dad & CarlaMac
11. Read.
12. Wandered around Home Depot looking for Kevin.
13. Wandered around Michael’s Craft Store looking for Kevin.
14. Attempted to vacuumed the dog hair out of the Civic, realized impossibility of task and gave up.
15. Watched Kevin pump gas.
16. Walked the dogs & petted the cats.
17. Installed shelves in the shower.
18. E-mailed Christmas pictures to Erica and Auntie Bev.
19. Ate leftovers.
20. Napped.

Resolutions

So people have been asking me what are my New Year resolutions. At first, I really didn’t have any aside from survive another year of Kevin’s cooking. But upon further reflection, I think this year I’m going to try to finish more.

I’m notorious for great ideas that sort of overlap. I’ll start some project, spend a few days/weeks collecting all the necessary items, hunting for bargains and advise, organizing and preparing, and then when it’s all set, I’ll sit down to actually Do It only to discover my attention has wandered onto something else. And I’ll shelve the current project to start collection, hunting, organizing for something else.

I mean, this list really is impressive. Last year I started and peetered out on the following projects…..

Creating a cookbook of favorite recipes – learning to play the guitar – learning to watercolor – re-learning how to play the piano – working on my stamp collection and first covers – creating a scrap book for my photos – cross stiching various patterns – knitting scarfs, hats, sweaters – sewing curtains, dresses, skirts – learning calligraphy and copper plating – selling my used books online – finishing various short stories/books I’ve begun – planting a veggie garden – making a quilt – making a greenhouse – painting the guestroom.

And that’s just for the last year!!! I’m sure there are more things – I mean, I have a whole ream of paper full of ideas and projects I’ve seen and want to do from organizing my CD collection to creating a craft room in the basement. Unfortunately, my eyes are bigger than my free time.

Strangely enough, whenever I mention to people that I’d love to stop working they all tell me I’d be bored. Um, hello! Bored??? I have a list that would keep me occupied for at least 5 years of neat projects and the list continues to grow.

So this year, I’m going to try very hard to stay on target. Sure, I’ll continue to collect ideas but instead of acting on every impulse that passes my way, I’m going to calmly add them to a project binder instead of chaotically rushing to begin them willy-nilly. Of course, that means I’m going to have to set up a project binder. I’ll need a binder with pockets and dividers – maybe a color coding system? And I can arrange alphabetically or chronologically or by subject matter. Maybe time needed to complete? And a supply list for sure.

I’m thinking this is going to be another long year. Ah well, resolutions are meant to be broken, right???

Getting Ready for Christmas?

I am approaching the Christmas spirit with a bit of hesitation this year. Oddly enough, Kevin has morphed from a complete Scrooge to a total Christmas enthusiast. I think you will understand my fear.

During our first Christmas together in Oregon, I was living alone in my little one bedroom apartment. Kevin was in school down in Corvallis but he would come up to visit me on weekends and holidays. As Christmas approached, I decided I wanted a tree for my little home. Kevin’s response was, “great, lets slay a tree for Jesus.” Needless to say, this remark considerably dampened my enthusiasm but I managed to shake it off and I headed to the nearest Fred Meyer with Kevin in tow. He grumped through the tree lot, declared every tree too big, and we ended up getting in a spat about how best to lash my douglas fir to the car. By the time we made it home, I was hopping mad. He had totally ruined my holiday spirit with his comments about how stupid it was to get a tree for an apartment.

The next year, Kevin agreed to help pick out the tree and he did cut back on the snide comments. However, there was still a lot of rumbling about why did we need a tree if we were living in an apartment? Last year was our first year in the house and we decided no pre-cuts for us. Instead, we headed into the hills and Kevin turned lumberjack and cut his own. He greatly enjoyed tromping around the hill and was willing to cut down as many trees as I liked. This year, he actually admitted he was looking forward to getting a tree so I think I have managed to convert him.

Now, I hear you asking yourself, “why is Chrissie so paranoid? Everything sounds normal.” Ah, but I haven’t told you about the Christmas lights.

Over the weekend, Kevin took Artie out on their nightly stroll. On his return, he asked me a rather odd questions – where can you buy moving reindeer made of Christmas lights. I immediately sensed trouble and went to yellow alert. After further questioning, Kevin revealed that on the walk, he saw this cool house with neat Christmas lights. The next day, he took me there. Sure enough, it had multi-colors large and small, icicles, and even Merry Christmas in red and green lights. Be the show stopper were four wire reindeer outlined with white lights. As Artie and I stood there speechless, Kevin pointed our with awe, “see how they are moving?” Sure enough, the heads slowly swivelled back and forth on the front lawn.

Kevin has decided the gauntlet has been thrown down. We hung our simple strand of lights but I can tell he wants more. He’s trying to find a way onto the roof and is musing about running extension cords so he can light our picket fence. I’m hoping that lighting the tree will curb his mad planning. If anyone knows were you can purchase moving Christmas reindeer, please keep that information to yourself. Thank you.