It’s a Fiver

My buddy Queenie tagged me for a meme which I thought was kind of fun – so here goes. I guess there aren’t any rules and since I usually flaunt rules, that is just as well. I don’t do tagging, personally, but if this one grabs you, feel free to steal it. WC

Five things in your bag:

Now, I wasn’t sure if that meant a handbag or a grocery bag. Certainly there are much more interesting things in my grocery bag because, well, I love food and love to shop and so am always buying new strange things. And as fate would have it, I just shopped this morning. So five things in my grocery bag were:
Liquid Smoke
Cilantro
Green Chilies
Tomato Paste
Diet Coke.

However, if I was supposed to tell you about five things in my handbag then that would be (sorry, oh, so boring)
A hair pin (that’s where that went to)
Eyeglasses in a pink eyeglass case (for driving)
My insurance card (don’t leave home without it)
A cool little gold notepad thingie that Teeni sent me
A pretty little prayer card that Moe sent me
And a list of all the things I want written in a notecard (don’t ask)

Five favorite things in your room:
Since I share a house with a slob of a room mate, I have gone to great pains to fashion my room into a one-room apartment, sadly I couldn’t manage to fit the stove and fridge in and so have to venture outside my room on occasion. Beyond that my room is the best place to be in the house.

My blue walls, I had the color specially mixed at Loewes from a color chip for floor tile. It is that beautiful bluey-green that the ocean becomes in the late afternoon.

My old, beat up leather chair. I found this treasure on the side of the road, literally. I talked roomie into hauling it in his truck for me. It was quite a mess and I spent hours vacuuming and cleaning it. But it is huge. One of those great chairs that you can curl up in with both pets and read, watch t.v. or just daydream whilst scribbling in your journal. I love this fricking chair.

An old black and white print I found in the thrift shop, of a couple reuniting in a train station. He has her in his arms and is swinging her around.

My computer – really a love-hate kind of relationship with this thing, but I often wonder if I could actually live without it.

My book(s) from mysteries to financial advise, to reference books. They are everywhere, behind the chair on the shelves, on the floor next to my bed. If I had more space, I’d have tons more books.

Five things you always wanted to do:
I’ll avoid the obvious answers to this one and leave out the dreams of publishing and being interviewed on Oprah, because, well you’re probably sick of hearing about it and I’m sick of talking about it:

Spend one birthday in Ireland – since my birthday is on St. Paddy’s Day I have always wanted to be there on that day and see what it’s like to celebrate in on the Old Sod.

Open my own eatery. I love food. I love to cook. I love to feed people. For many years I waited tables and really loved it. Aside from the food and cooking aspect there is something really fun about making people happy with food and talking to all kinds of people all day long. If I had such a place, I would call it the ‘Damn it, Janet Cafe’ I would have no menu and I would serve a list of ten specials each day for each meal – e.g. 10 breakfast specials, 10 lunch specials and 10 dinner specials. I would keep a garden out back and use my own fresh vegetables to prepare the meals. It would seat no more than 40 people and I would have an apartment that I lived in above the restaraunt. It would be in a small town but likely one that tourists visited. And it would be so cool, Oprah would interview me. Are we sensing a theme here?

Dance in some sort of live performance. From the time I was a very little girl I wanted to be a dancer. It never happened and now I doubt it will. Still, even if it were an amateur performance I think it would be fun. Of course they’d have to tile the floor with bubble wrap.

Hear real Dixieland Jazz in N’Orleans. And probably eat a mess of crawdads and soft shell crabs while I’m at it. Heck, I might even learn Cajun.

Go to the Academy Awards. Not in the nosebleed seats either, nuh-uh. I’d want to be wearing the designer gown and jewels and have the photographers going apeshit as I strolled down the red carpet, all the while wondering who the heck I am.

Five things that you’re currently into:
That phrase is so funny to me, makes me feel like I’m in high school. “Whoa dude, she’s just not into you.’

Gardening. It’s not a new thing, I have loved gardening and especially growing my own vegetables for a long time. I’m just hooked on it. Everyday I go out to the garden and visit my plants and encourage them to grow. I look around for butterflies, bees and ladybugs and will them to flock the garden and bring it good luck. And delight whenever I see a new blossom or little tiny fruit beginning to form. Heck I even like the smell of cow manure.

Writing. This is a no brainer. But I’m writing all sorts of things. Stories, novels, marketing pages, press releases, emails, blog posts, lists, notes – you name it and I’m writing it. So, this is what it feels like to be a writer? Who knew?

Chatting with my good buddie in Austraila. It started out as a lark but now we speak come rain or shine every Friday. I can’t tell you how much I look forward to the calls and how quickly two or three hours can zip by when we’re chatting. It’s so funny because we just gab away as though we’re down the block from each other when in fact we are literally a half a world away from each other. It just goes to show you though that if someone is your friend it doesn’t matter where they live.

Walking. I started out doing this because of the job from hell. Right after I quit I fell actually ill. Physically and spiritually. The only way I could feel good at first was to just walk. I’d lease up Maggie and off we’d go. Eventually, it just got to be part of the daily routine and I’ve really come to love it. Not the effort because sometimes there is effort, I’m tired or I don’t feel like it – but I do it anyway because I always feel better and a certain kind of peace afterwards. I see beautiful things and often have heart to heart chats with myself during these walks and honestly on the odd day that I don’t walk I just feel a little off.

Being girlie. Which is not to say I was butch or anything – but up until recently I just didn’t give a darn about how I looked, what I wore, if I had makeup on or anything. I pretty much lived in pajamas (read sweats) gave in far too often to comfort food and kind of hung out in my cave. But lately, I’ve sort of come out of the trance, got a new haircut, started eating much better, cut out all the junky food and tossed many of the pajama like clothes. It’s kind of cool because I’ve rediscovered my girliness and I really like it.

Okay, so those are my fivers. If you have any, feel free to tell me about them or do the meme yourself.

WC