Wouldn't It Be Lovely?

So another day of me running around town hunting for awesome things at the flea market/antique stores. I might post some pictures tomorrow. Bobcat and I are in love with lead glass work, which can't be produced legally in the US anymore. We've also discovered when it comes to furniture we really like the twisted English barley pattern on oak and maple. In discovering this trend, we've also discovered we dislike flowery detail and prefer more clean or geometric lines in our older furniture. Every now and again, though, we run into a ridiculously ornately carved piece we love....we may not be consistent, but our taste is consistently good, I think. 

So this evening was devoted to a quick hello from Flyguy, watching America's Got Talent (I voted for those acrobats and Collin's Key) and letting my feet freeze while I let the poultice Kitten made me dry on my spider bites (more about those later). Thus, you are stuck with another set of bizarre questions and my attempt at more than two word answers. I've included questions this time, so you'll see where my train of thought leaves the station. 

Incidentally, I'm currently reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. It's wonderful. I love reading it. The detail is lavish and it distracts me beautifully when Kitten is taking needles to my feet. 

Do you think musicals are cheesy?

I absolutely adore musicals. I was raised (despite my family’s economic station) to really love the theater. As a result, I’ve developed a deep and abiding love for musicals of all kinds. I love the classics, but I still enjoy newer ones. Honestly, one of my favorite sweet moments from early in mine and Kittens relationship was when we went for a drive and we passed the street where I grew up. Kitten told me she used to drive by and think of me. It made me smile. A few minutes later, I noticed she was humming “The Street Where You  Live” from My Fair Lady. It’s my favorite musical. Definitely an “it was love” moment for me. In fact, one of the early questions I asked her on a date was what her favorite musical is. Its Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Is Christmas stressful?

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the holidays. I was when I was little, and I still enjoy the “atmosphere” of Christmas, but it’s something I view as artificial and created. If I want to “feel” like its Christmas, I like to go to Silver Dollar City’s Old Fashioned Christmas and wander around. I like the lights and the chill in the air. I like to listen to the carols. I enjoy a nice glass of wassail or four. We’ll watch the fudge being made and get fresh taffy. We’ll huddle around a warming lamp and eat savory treats. I’ll spend all the time you’ll let me in front of the giant tree that plays all the Electric Light Orchestra music and coordinates the lights. It is super old-fashioned and I also get to ride roller coasters, so it’s a win all the way around. But there’s no question, the atmosphere is created.

I think it’s very stressful that our families still try to create that “perfect” Christmas like there used to be. But you can’t force amity and goodwill. You can’t make everyone get along. Just because there’s a turkey or a ham on the table doesn’t mean everyone is happy to be there and wants to share the joy of the season. That is very stressful. The need to buy people things is stressful- especially since we’re always broke. The need to coordinate holiday parties with three sets of parents, plus my extended family, plus my friends and on top of that I have to plan a ritual and feast for MY winter holiday, Yule, as well- that is stressful.

See, the thing is, I don’t celebrate Christmas, do I? So I don’t particularly care. I think it’s the being forced to care that irritates me the most. I get tired of hearing “But it’s Christmas!” and then getting all the subsequent lectures about family obligations and how will I feel when family members die and I should want to make it special for everyone else because I love them even if I don’t celebrate the holiday, etc., etc. That’s stressful and it’s irritating.

Now, to answer the question that would be posted were you to ask without a Gregorian Calendar Anglo-Christian bias- no, I don’t find Yule stressful at all. It’s one of my favorite holidays (the food!) and is for sure my favorite “light” holiday.

Favorite type of fruit pie?

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of pie in general and fruit pies in specific. If I am going to have pie I like the fruit to be fresh and that means only certain months of the year for my favorites. I like a nice peach pie, one that’s super syrupy. I also love a tart blackberry pie. I don’t want them to be double crust (impossible to find, you have to make them on your own, and I’m a terrible baker) and they should certainly have a flaky crust not a super thick one. And rich. Really, really rich.

Occupations you wanted to be when you were a kid?

Um, when I was really little I wanted to be a ballerina, a rock star and a nurse. When I was grade school aged I wanted to be a ballerina, a country-western singer and an artist. When I was junior high aged I realized I never be a ballerina, or a singer or an artist. I decided that being a writer was a much better, more attainable profession and it was something that I liked.

Someone told me that being a writer wasn’t a viable career. So when I got into high school I looked into the things that interested me. I decided I wanted to get into government somehow. I love languages and I was (still am, really) interested in foreign policy. So I decided it would be awesome to work as an ambassador or in a foreign government office. Like most American high schools, mine didn’t offer Russian (the language I wanted to learn) so I settled for French and German. I got a backup plan, because the counselors told me to, and decided that if foreign relations didn’t work, government relations would (yeah, me a lobbyist) be interesting. I applied for all the right schools and for what it’s worth, got accepted to most of them. And then I saw the price tag for school. And law school. And I knew, in my heart, there wasn’t a chance in the deepest regions of hell that I would be able to do either of those things.

   

So I went to local university, couldn’t afford that either once I had a semester of living on my own and trying to maintain a job and my incredibly bad health and so I left school. If you asked me now, I would say that I’d like to write. I want to go back to school and get a nice degree in literature and writing. I’d like to teach, but that would require an advance degree if I want to teach college. In most places in the country you still can’t be out and teach high school, so I’m aiming for writing a book that gets published and finding a job as a librarian or working in a bookstore of some sort. That would be fine with me.

Do you believe in ghosts?

I do believe in ghosts. I believe in spirits and poltergeists and all sorts of strange astral beings. I also believe that we sometimes believe in something so much that we create it with our mind. Our minds are far more powerful than we give ourselves credit for. I also believe that you can speak to the spirits of the dead and to spirits that were never human.  

Take a vitamin daily?

I do. In fact, working on this post reminded me that I needed to take it. I take two vitamins. One of them is a B complex supplement and the other one is an iron supplement. Both of them help me with much needed energy and they’ve really helped me feel better as far as my moodiness goes- they were a suggestion from Dad and I was glad for it.

Wear slippers?

I do. I actually have a whole lot of slippers. All of mine have hard soles so I can run around in the yard in them. I like slip on shoes for in the house and around it. Kitten is not so fond of my old pairs so she started buying me nice ones. It may have backfired though, this last week I’ve had some nasty spider bites in the shape of my outdoor house shoes and I’m pretty sure they were poisonous since I’ve got nasty pus-filled bulls-eyes now…no worries, Kitten lanced them and I’ve been putting on a poultice, but it’s pretty gross and it makes me reconsider no socks outside.

What do you wear to bed?

I don’t wear anything in bed. I used to, but I’ve found as the years pass that I just get hot and tangled up in my nightclothes and its more comfortable for me not to. Even when we were on vacation in South Carolina, even when we were camping, once I was in for the night I had all my clothes off. I slept nude in the tent. I also had a bad habit of running around camp in nothing but a sports bra and a pair of obscenely short exercise shorts, but hey- it was a hundred degrees and ninety-plus humidity every day. I get a pass while I’m working over a fire.

Shy OR open?

I think I’m both. I’m nervous around new people. I don’t like strangers or crowds. Most people don’t believe that I’m introverted, but I am. Once you get to know me, though, I’m an open book. I’ll talk about almost anything. I won’t keep secrets from you. I’m pretty forthright. Of course, you get a lot of that here. I don’t conceal much, which is a little normal, considering the regular readers here are, I’m pretty sure, my friends. It’s also a little odd, since I might be talking to strangers after all. Either way, I suppose, I’m an open book once you know me.