Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Kimmy's Meme

It's been so long since I last posted... I got out of the habit and nothing seemed interesting enough to merit publication, even in this medium. After wrestling with the Grim Reaper for so long everything else looks pretty trivial. Still, life goes on and each day is really a patchwork of trivialities. Kimmy - sweet Kimmy - put up this meme on her page and I think it will mark my return to blogging. She titles it "Strange Questions". Here it is, with my answers (Go to Kimmy's page for her answers) :

What kind of soap is in your bathtub right now? I don't really know or care (bet you don't either!) Something...we do use soap...

Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? Not yet. It's too early in the season for watermelon, but we will have it!

What would you change about your living room? Not much. I like my living room. It's quite comfy.

Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? Always dirty. If they're clean, they're outa there.

What is in your fridge? Two fridges - one in the kitchen, the other in the pantry. About twelve litres of skim milk, cream, three dozen omega 3 eggs, butter, mango juice, Romaine lettuce, broccoli, carrots, onion, mushrooms, a wide variety of cheeses, coffee, V8 juice, soda pop, pickles, olives, salad dressing, sauerkraut....a lot of other stuff....Tiramisu cheesecake!

White or wheat bread? We don't eat much bread, but I prefer white.

What is on top of your refrigerator? Two large binders. One has plastic sheets that I slip appliance booklets and directions into. The other is divided into sections with headings such as "Paint", that section containing labels for the various colours of paint used in our house and the formulation so that they can be repeated.

What color or design is on your shower curtain? One shower has a glass door, the other has a yellow curtain with mauve and pink floral trim.

How many plants are in your home? I'm not going to attempt to count them. Far too many for a normal person. They're everywhere. I counted twenty-three in the living area (some are taller than me). I'm trying to remember...maybe ten or twelve in my bedroom...

Is your bed made right now? Yes.

Comet or Soft Scrub? Bleach.

Is your closet organized? Fair. My spices are in alphabetical order! I recently amused myself mightily by adding a second set of labels to my spices. Cinnamon now has the label "Botulin", Cloves is "Ground Glass", Garlic Salt "Giardia", Ginger is labelled "Arsenic", etc. I suppose I am quite juvenile.

Can you describe your flashlight? A big rechargeable one on a stand, a standard D-cell and a wind-up one with a radio for emergencies. (We do live in earthquake country.)

Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? China. Tea is my beverage of choice.

Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? No.

If you have a garage, is it cluttered? Very messy. But messy with a lot of good stuff.

Curtains or blinds? Blinds, and some seaside windows left uncovered.

How many pillows do you sleep with? Three

Do you sleep with any lights on at night? No, but various electronic gizmos keep the room bathed in a Christmas-y glow. I'm particularly fond of the red light projecting the time onto the ceiling above my head. Then there's a blue light from a little vacuum cleaner in the corner, an orange one on the television, a nightlight glowing in the bathroom.... Heck, YES, I sleep with lights on at night!

How often do you vacuum? Sporadically. When the dust is thick enough to notice.

Standard toothbrush or electric? Standard.

What color is your toothbrush? One's red, the other blue. I use whichever is dry.

Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? Yes. I used to have one that said "Get Lost!" This meme is making me examine my childishness....

What is in your oven right now? Grease and ash. It needs cleaning.

Is there anything under your bed? Maybe the Toe Catchers...

Chore you hate doing the most? Tax returns. I foolishly got myself into that muck a few years ago when I complained about the mistakes made by our tax preparer. I do a good job and that's the problem. I find it quite worrisome because I want to do a perfect job.

What retro items are in your home? Many things from my husband's grandparents' home because we live on the property they lived and died on. Peter's grandfather's eyeglasses - quaint round ones in a worn black case - are sitting on the grandfather's old bookshelf. That bookshelf has glass doors and is filled with interesting old books (classics, many art books, etc.) Actually generations of household possessions are blended here, mostly ordinary things with only sentimental value.

Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? Yes.

How many mirrors are in your home? I'm not sure.

What color are your walls? Chocolate ice-cream brown downstairs, cream and woodsy green upstairs. Pantry and ensuite a lovely pale yellow.

Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home? Quite a number, but they're hobby items really. The most dangerous item is the ornery old bag at the top of the stairs (me).

What does your home smell like right now? Lilacs.

Favorite candle scent? I don't like scented candles.

What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? Dills and gherkins. And twelve litres of garlic-stuffed green olives in the pantry. I really like garlic-stuffed olives....

What color is your favorite Bible? Red, a giant tome with four side-by-side translations.

Ever been on your roof? No. I don't want to. But I'd do it if I had to.

Do you own a stereo? Yes.

How many TVs do you have? There are six in the house, four are mine (One in the kitchen, for following the news; one in the living room; one in the computer room; and one in my bedroom). I don't watch tv much at all either - mostly just news now. Peter and Jon have tv's in their rooms too.

How many house phones? Six.

Do you have a housekeeper? Just me.

What style do you decorate in? Not much. I used to describe it as "British India". It's more like a British men's club look. Dark. Dark wood, leather, a herd of ceramic elephants, a jungle of plants and the occasional spot of bright colour.

Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints? I like lots of things.

Is there a smoke detector in your home? Yes.

In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you’d grab if you only could make one quick trip? An unfinished painting that hangs above our living room mantel. It was a collaborative effort of Peter's grandparents. Margaret (Grandma) did most of the painting I believe and Gus (Grandpa) posed for the figures. It's a picture of Romulus and Remus defending the gates of Rome. Not precisely my taste, but there are two figures who look exactly like my son Jon. The picture has a sad history - it was set aside, unfinished, when Gus died prematurely. We tried to find a suitable frame for it but couldn't, so even that remains unfinished. Still we love it. I've also put a plan in place to rescue pictures. When we had new bookshelves installed I had them put in drawers underneath. There are twelve drawers, eight of which are packed full of photo albums going back generations. The family has a standing order to get the painting above the mantel first, then pull out as many drawers as they can and take albums out by the drawer-ful.