Random Thoughts

Here is a fun meme I got from Rachel over at Not-So-Plain-Jane. I liked it for its simplicity, yet its telling qualities.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW . . .
I see the night view of my neighbor's house across the street. Whenever I walk past my front window, I always look at their house, to see what lights are on, if they're home, if all is well. It's not a Mrs. Kravitz kind of looking. But just a motherly kind of safekeeping that we neighbors do because we care about those who surround us 24/7. It's all about neighborhood.

I AM THINKING . . .
that I need to go to bed, but there is so much more to accomplish, to think about, to do. And if I did go to bed, I'd be turning on the light every 5 minutes to jot down on a bedside notebook some inspiration, some TO DO, something to look up. I stayed home sick today with a sinus infection and truly felt sick yet tied to work obligations. I need a day that allows me to devote myself to me.

I AM THANKFUL FOR . . .
the safeness I feel in my everyday routine. I'm all for spontaneity, but I really do relish the everyday things that I know will be there without fail. . . to make me laugh, to make me a better person, to make me feel good about being me (a mom, a daughter, a sister, a co-worker, a friend).

FROM THE LEARNING ROOMS . . .
I want a good camera and I want to learn how to take beautiful pictures. Period.

FROM THE KITCHEN . . .
My kitchen is so small. So very small. And when I bake or cook, I sometimes teeter on a place that makes me anxious and resentful, so not the place I want to be when I'm basking in the glory of measuring cups and double boilers. I sometimes imagine myself in one of those magazine-layout kitchens and I swoon with envy. But it always comes back to the results. Forget the lack of counter space and the close quarters . . . I make things with love, that people enjoy. God bless MY kitchen.

I AM WEARING . . .
Good gosh. It's always the same. Big man shirt with polyester pants. A Christmas pin (at this time of year). A pair of Merrells as worn in as a good pair of slippers. Hair up in a chip clip. Laid back. Casual bordering on needing help. But content. Oh so content.

I AM CREATING . .
We're doing our Secret Santa at work and I've got the perfect gift. Need to hunker down and get 'er done!!!!!!!

I AM GOING . . .
to all sorts of places in my head thinking about Harleigh going off to college. Pray for me. I love her so much and want the best for her. All my parenting will reveal itself now. I pray that she takes a Godly path.

I AM READING . . .
cookbooks, lists, the newspaper, magazines. No time for books now.

I AM HOPING . . .
that the church's middle and high school Christmas party is well attended. Our dwindling youth participation is so sad.

I AM HEARING . . .
You get one guess.

AROUND THE HOUSE . . .
it looks cozy and snuggly and oh so Christmasy.

ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS . . .
is the Christmas wreath on the front of my car. A Thanksgiving tradition. After the meal my Dad puts one on every family member's car. Harleigh even has one!

HERE IS A PICTURE FOR THOUGHT I AM SHARING . . . it is really what this season is all about.

An Award

Kate, over at My Messy Nest, crowned me with a Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you, Kate!

I have to list 6 things I value and 6 things I don't.

What do I value?
(Aside from God, family, friends and my dog, Gideon.)
1. The warmth and safety of my home. MY home.
2. My time alone.
3. Having a job. I complain as much as the next person about long hours, but the bottom line is that in this economy, I am blessed to have a well-paying job.
4. A sense of humor. Something my dad gifted me with. I thank him every day.
5. A love of creating beautiful (at least to me) things, whether it be craft projects, sewn items, home decor or even entertaining.
6. That I don't mind my long commute to and from work. It is my down time. A chance to listen to my favorite morning radio show (The Regular Guys, yes, I admit, The Regular Guys) and to NPR on the ride home. And since I'm a very easy-going driver, despite the congested traffic and aggressive drivers, I can make the ride quite relaxing.

What I don't value or don't like.
1. An overabundance of tears. That I cry about everything. Mostly happy tears. But it makes so many things difficult. I can't enjoy a lot of things because I fall apart. Any tips for how to keep the tears at bay?
2. When I see pet owners who walk their dogs without a poop bag. If you don't pick up your dog's stuff, especially when it's on someone's property, then the homeowner who gets the goods should have every right to walk onto your grass and take a poop. I feel rather strongly about this.
3. Being late. Me or anyone else.
4. Bad customer service. It is rampant these days. And the bottom line is that in most industries I have a ton of choices, so bad customer service will only force me to find a new source, one that treats me with respect.
5. Calling a business and getting the voice-activated menu. I miss the days when you called a company and got a person.
6. Out-of-control children. So many kids today are not raised with discipline, and it has created a generation of brats. I suppose it makes me take notice of the good kids even more than ever, wanting to compliment the parents (except that I'd start crying with emotion).

6 Random Things

Jackie, over at Empty Nest Full Life, tagged me for this fun meme. I've done this one before, but it never stops me from playing again! I can ALWAYS come up with random things about myself.

1. I can't stand small paper clips. Detest them, actually. I only use the big ones. At home and at work. If I get something with a small paper clip, it comes off and is replaced with a big one. I'm a freak.

2. I can't get gray hair fast enough. I started getting gray hairs about 9 months ago and you'd have thought I won the lottery. I adore gray, especially pretty gray. I have no plans on coloring it and only hope that it comes in quickly. I think it suits me.

3. I love eating alone in restaurants. Given the chance, I'll gladly ask for a single table and sit there for hours. I suppose I consider myself my own best company . . . which means I am often alone, but never lonely.

4. I have tried to talk myself into being a cat person, but just can't seem to get there. The thought of having a cat as a pet is so foreign to me that it scares the crap out of me. What, actually, makes a person a cat person or a dog person??

5. I find that the older I get, the less of a good friend I become (at least in terms of keeping up with people). It's not something I'm happy about. It's just a fact. I've become more of a loner in my old age.

6. All that said in #5 above, I did start, three years ago, to send one of those catch-up letters with my Christmas cards. I've always enjoyed getting them (I suppose you either love them or hate them). I try very hard not to sound too Pollyanna (and include a sprinkling of Gahan Girls reality "caca" to keep myself humble), but I do rather enjoy collecting pictures and milestones throughout the year that I can share with family and friends.

Always fun things to do . . .

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? (Dawn)
2. What is your favourite food? (Maryland Blue Crabs)
3. What high school did you go to? (Westminster)
4. What is your favourite colour? (pink)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Heath Ledger, may he rest in peace)
6. Favourite drink? (iced tea)
7. Dream vacation? (a private villa in the Maldives, over the water)
8. Favourite dessert? (apple pie)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? (grandmother, but in due time)
10. What do you love most in life? (Harleigh)
11. One Word to describe you. (content)
12. Your flickr name. (gahangirls)

Click on this link for photo credits.

Unimportant Facts About Moi

Kate sent me this meme, actually one of the harder ones I've done. It was rather tough to come up with facts about myself that weren't overly boring, very embarrassing, or begged a ton of explanation. But here goes . . .

1. Link back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 6 unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag 4 people at the end of your entry.

1. I am a distant relative of the famous newscaster Walter Cronkite. He is 92 years old now, and from what I've read his mother lived to be 101.

2. I was voted Most Artistic by my senior high school class.

3. I have been wearing the same shade of WetnWild lip liner and lipstick for the past 15 years. And none the poorer because of it! It used to cost 99cents and now it's $1.99, and still the best out there.

4. I grew up with an Old English Sheepdog named Shawn. Then after college my boyfriend at the time bought me an OES puppy whom I named Wyeth. And now I have dear, sweet Gideon.

5. I never walk around in my house barefoot. I always have to wear my socks and/or slippers. The idea of bare feet on carpet nauseates me. Harleigh does it, but I'd rather her wear socks or slippers. Weird or what?

6. My favorite music in the whole world is Christmas music. I start playing it November 1 and it pretty much plays all day, 7 days a week, right up through Christmas Day.


Now, I tag Laura, Devon (your list could all be unimportant slight obsessions), Ali, and Cammy.

Meme for today

I've been tagged by my dear friend and co-worker, Laura, to tackle this little ditty:

The Rules:
Rules are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names. Then the player goes to each of the “named” people’s blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. If you’ve been tagged, you do the same, letting the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer. Your answer, of course, is the answer to the following questions. Here we go!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was beginning to house-hunt here in the Atlanta area, intent on finding an affordable home in a good school district, and getting a little down that I'd never find anything (which of course I did, the following year, on Mother's Day . . . a sign that our sweet Chateau Gahan was a gift from God). I was two years into my work here at Unboundary (then EAI) and feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of hours I was logging in every day (thank God for parents who helped out with my little one!). Oh, and I was a size 6.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
• Schedule Harleigh's next voice lesson
• Pull together paperwork that we will need when 16-year-old daughter goes to get her driver's license at the end of this month (AAAAAHHHHHH!)
• Pick up Gideon from vet where he had his teeth cleaned and his annual shots administered.
• Balance checkbook (I am obsessive about making sure I balance to the penny every 10 days or so)
• Order fan stix for a fan craft I've been pondering

3. Snacks I enjoy: potato chips, red grapes, Yoplait Whips yogurt in key lime pie and orange creme, pistachios

4. Places I’ve lived:
• Towson, Reisterstown, New Windsor, Westminster, and Baltimore in Maryland
• New Brunswick, New Jersey
• Delaware, Ohio where I went to college
• Huntington Beach, California
• and finally here in Georgia!

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
• First of all, my sister and her family would be financially set and my sister could buy that little house out in farm country and maybe even a ranch so she can be the cowgirl that she truly is.
• Definitely not work, but instead devote my time to traveling, crafting, and creating beautiful environments.
• I would have a house in Palm Desert California with a pool, a brownstone in NYC, a horse farm in Chadds Ford Pennsylvania, and a beach house on Sanibel Island Florida.
• Treat myself to a facial and a massage every week
• Figure out what "cause" is truest to my heart and give a buttload of money.

I have to tag six people for this, so I tag Courtney (and you may have to draw a picture to go with it in order to stay true to the intent of your blog), Erin, Ali, Darly, Freckled Hen (and only if and when you get a chance; you're juggling a lot right now!), and Elizabeth. If any of you have done this meme and I've overlooked it on your blog, my apologies!

Three'fer Thursday

Got this meme from Kate . . .

1. What is your prefered type of candy?

Hands down, a pecan log. Perhaps my love of the most famous of all pecan logs, the Stuckey's version, stems from road trips to Florida as a child. Back then there weren't a ton of gas stations like there are today and so you usually stopped at a Stuckey's to gas up, go potty and walk around the gift shop. Lots of souvenir items from American Indian reservations, Mexico and of course Florida. And you couldn't leave without getting one of their famous pecan logs. I had an assistant at work who shared my love of these sinful delights and I made homemade ones one Christmas as a gift to him. I gotta admit that they were just as good, but messy as all get out to make.

2. What is your favorite meal?

A medium rare T-bone steak, baked potato with butter and sour cream and a green vegetable of any kind.

3. If you could only have one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Steamed Maryland Blue Crabs. Eating them is such a production, a creative feast. I think the only reason I ever stopped eating at crab feasts was because they ran out of crabs.

This is . . . the contents of my closet

Everyone who knows me is well aware that my daily outfit consists of Merrells on my feet (and white socks, always white), polyester elastic-waist pants, and a big buttoned shirt. That's pretty much my uniform 7 days a week. Yes, as I've alluded to before, I am a prime candidate for What Not to Wear, but I'm certainly comfortable and save a ton of money on expensive clothes obsessions. My closet is a small walk-in with great shelving and hanging space. If I purged it of all that I don't wear or doesn't fit anymore, I could rent out the space as a storage unit, it would be that widdled down to just a handful of items. I don't use wire hangers (except where you see them on pieces just back from the dry cleaners). Instead I use the plastic hangers with the hook part that moves. My daughter, on the other hand, uses only the molded plastic hangers that are all one piece and come in colors, and she has her clothes separated by type, each type with a different color hanger.
The basket on the shelf holds a small steamer, Febreze, lint brush and a non-static spray. Purses are in a plastic tub, as are scarves.

At the bottom of the closet is my beach/pool tote ready to go. And a basket of Beanie Babies that my daughter can't part with that just haven't made it up to the attic.

This is . . . the contents of my jewelry box

Any necklaces I have are on Lady Goodwill. And the few bracelets and earrings I have are in a smaller trinket box. But my jewelry box is strictly for my pin collection. I go in waves. There are months at a time that I won't go out of the house without a pin on. And other stretches where they get a rest. (Come November I'll share my Christmas pin collection which, if I must say so myself, is quite impressive.) Here is the box that holds them all. It's a vintage piece where the bottom drawer slides open by itself when the lid is lifted. I've got three or four of these types of jewelry boxes that I've been meaning to do something with.

The Dinner Meme

I kept seeing the word "meme" in the "This is . . . " blog entries I was reading. Now I know what it means. Am I that electronically unsavvy that I didn't have a clue what it is? Anywho, here is a meme that I jumped onto that was really fun to think about.

You are hosting a dinner party and you can invite 6 other guests.. All we would love to see is your choice (images please) and your reason why you chose that particular person. (I went under the premise that the person be alive as of this posting.)

Alan Alda has my sense of humor and he's witty as hell. He's one of those guys who becomes more and more attractive as you get to know him (which I do from film and TV). He exudes such confidence without seeming cocky. There's an arresting vulnerability to him as well that I think makes him relate so well to women. His movie Same Time Next Year is in my top 10 list.

Ellen Degeneres makes me laugh so hard that I snort. Won’t I be a blast at this dinner party?

Garrison Keillor’s voice is like melted butter. Every Sunday evening I get cozy in the ken of the house and put on NPR to listen to his show. He can talk about poop and make it sound like a love story you don't want to end.

Tony Bennett, legend, would have such wonderful stories to tell of the Rat Pack. And he’s become quite a well-known painter as well. After dinner we’ll all lean on the baby grand and he can sing as we drink warm cognac.

Robin Roberts is one of those women who seems to be a complete package. She’s pretty, smart, funny and would seem to be a great friend and conversationalist. And she strikes me as the kind of gal who would be totally comfortable with silences in a conversation, not feeling the need to fill them with fluff. Ellen Degeneres is out-there gay; lots of speculation about Robin’s sexual preference. Honestly, I could care less. I just think it’s interesting that the two women I chose are not girly girl kind of gals (I tend to be more girly girl in the things that I like). I guess if I were to choose a more girly girl for the party it would have to be Candice Olson from Divine Design.

Curtis Stone from Take Home Chef . . . ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. That man could fix me deep-fried souse and I would think it the most delicious thing to ever cross my lips. When he looks at women, whether it be over a grocery cart, a cut of meat or a lush, green mound of produce, he has this bedroom look that seems there is no other woman in the supermarket. Sometimes when I’m in my local Kroger, I imagine seeing him come toward me followed by a trail of cameramen. Shopping with him, coming home to cook with him, eating and drinking as he peeks from the kitchen to see my closed-eye rapture with every bite. It makes me want to clean my house before I go grocery shopping and wear something bewitchingly sexy . . . just in case.

Others I thought of but who didn't make the cut included Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Watch this YouTube photo montage to see two beautiful people who are so crazy about each other. It makes me wish I had found a soulmate in life. David Sedaris for his sense of humor. And Valerie Bertinelli 'cause she's so down to earth. If I had included people who were no longer with us, then four chairs would easily be filled, hands down, by Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, William Frawley and Vivian Vance.

This is . . .

I got this idea from a new blog I just happened to read (thanks to Ally of Born to Read and Knit!). The idea is from Lucy Locket (who got the idea from three buttons). It is a way to post without much effort. The theme for the week was "This is . . . the contents of my handbag." (And if you go to the three buttons blog, she has listed all the blogs who are participating in "This is." Obviously I've just hit on the first one — the handbag one; there are loads more that they've tackled!)

I like a shallow purse because I detest digging. It is one of the few things that truly gets me irritated and close to cursing. This pocketbook is from Walmart (and yes, I do call it a pocketbook; what am I . . . 90?). I own one expensive leather bag (actually it's a knapsack) that I've used for years, but I have to dig. Enough said.

This Walmart pocketbook is shallow, a dark color so dirt won't show, and is waterproof. The compartments suit me too.

Here is Dawn E. Girl's pockee-book contents:

• my wallet
• my rather outdated phone (which I love and will hate to part with when it finally up and dies)
• a tape measure (for when I am flea-marketing furniture)
• a small spiral-bound notebook (I MUST write everything down)
NOTE: Whenever I buy a new notebook, I cover it with tacky-backed scrapbook paper. I've also covered the tape measure, which I believe had an advertisement on it for something or other.
• my daytimer . . . my life
• glasses
• hand sanitizer
• house and car keys
• keys to my church (I'm always working on a project there. I designed the decor for our children's wing and also worked on a part of our teen center. During that time I was given a "master key." You'd have thought Jesus himself handed it to me, I was so ecstatic. But come to find out, there are master keys, and then there are master master keys, and then, drumroll, the master master blaster keys. I'm sure I'll have to reach sainthood before moving to that level of key ownership. In the meantime, I'm quite happy to be able to enter the hallowed refuge any time I please.)
• makeup bag with lipstick, compact with mirror and tissue stash, nail clipper and a lovely little pill box from my friend Sacha.