Ken and Pen----You're it!

Septembermom, over at My Voice, My View tagged me today for a meme. Unlike the last time I got tagged for a meme, I now know how to pronounce the word “meme.” Head on over there to read her answers too!

The Rules for this meme:
1. Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your blog. Replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, and add one more question of your own.

2. Tag other people.

What is your current obsession?
I could have just kept septembermom’s answer, because my obsession is whatever dancing show happens to be running at the moment. For now, it’s So You Think You Can Dance. I even watch the show with pen and notebook in hand in case I come across a song I like, or in case I want to watch a certain performance over again on youtube.

What are you wearing today?
My favorite blue jeans along with my coolest shirt—a turquoise blue button down. That’s coolest as in “least likely to cause heat stroke in the Utah desert,” not coolest as in “Dang, you look fine.” For shoes I am wearing my taupe Skechers with burgundy embroidery on the side.

What’s for dinner?
We had roasted chicken and baked potatoes. It’s now 11:30 p.m. and I have dessert in the oven. We called Tim’s son, Nathan, who was just getting off work at 10:00 p.m. and begged, “Please. We will die unless you bring brownies home with you.”

What would you eat for your last meal?
Spaghetti, but only if I make the sauce myself. All store-bought spaghetti sauce has onions in it. I might even have some Iowa corn on the cob, and key lime pie.

What relaxes you the most?
A coma. Ok, not that. I’m stealing my answer from septembermom again. Reading relaxes me more than anything.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Someplace that has sand, blue skies and lots of water, as in an oceanic amount of water. Although I would prefer it to be warm, if I had to spend an hour back on the beach in Washington, I would not complain.

Which language do you want to learn?
I would like to finish learning Spanish. I took four years in high school, but in the last two years, they just put me back in with first and second year students since they didn’t have enough people for a full class. After Spanish maybe Hebrew.

What do you love most about where you currently live?
I live in a valley between two mountain ranges, so it feels very secluded. There’s not much crime except for the meth-heads who mainly just kill each other. It’s a small town, but it’s only 90 miles from culture when I absolutely cannot take the seclusion any longer. I also love that the people here go on and on about how terrible the winters are. I just laugh and say “Winter? You want to see winter? Spend January in Iowa baby, then come back here and complain about winter.”

Describe your dream home.
My dream home has a front room decorated like heaven, with very light (so as to be almost white) pink walls and white carpet. There is a huge crystal chandelier hanging in the center, which acts as a prism, causing little rainbows to dance across the walls. There is a beautiful Greg Olsen painting on the impression wall and soft music playing in the background. The kitchen has a center island and lots of cupboard space. There is an attached dining room with a serving area that connects to the kitchen. Also on the main level is the library which houses all of our computers in addition to shelves of all the best books. Down the hall is the laundry room and a huge bathroom. The bathroom has an atrium where there are lots of plants nourished by the sunshine coming through the solar pane in the roof. There is also a mammoth jetted tub. The bathroom is L-shaped with an additional door enclosing the toilet area. We have a two-level basement. On the first level is the family room where there’s a home theater, piano, and pool table. Turn the corner and go down the stairs to find the second level which houses the food storage area, the dance/exercise studio, and an all-purpose storage room. Now on to the second floor. The second floor holds four bedrooms. We don’t need four bedrooms, but as long as we are dreaming, three of these rooms would be used for guests and the fourth one would be Jeremiah’s. Jeremiah’s room would have a loft where he could hang out when he wants to be alone and read. *Sputter, cough* Make that when he wants to build an elaborate Lego Star Wars city. He would have a tunnel with an attached slide that would whisk him down to the family room. Two more bathrooms on the second floor. On the third floor is the master (that’s me) bedroom. Of course it is done in lavender. It has a huge window seat for reading, a walk-in closet and another jetted tub. There are vending machines for midnight snacks of Little Debbies, Snickers, Nacho Doritos and Dr. Pepper. What I meant to say is there’s a refrigerator for midnight snacks of grapes, apples, oranges, water and celery. Off the master bedroom is a balcony with a view to a garden below. There’s a vegetable garden, a flower garden and a winding path through an arbor graced with ponds and fountains. And to top it off—my own treehouse! Did I mention secret passageways? No dream house is complete without secret passages, especially one to the treehouse! (This dreamhouse can only be achieved by your clicking on the Amazon link and buying something—Wah, ha ha!)

If you were a time traveler what era would you live in?
I would never want to go backward because I love all the amenities I now have--contacts, curling iron, flush toilets, the internet, and Pizza Hut. So I guess I would go forward, into the future and visit my descendants.

What is your favorite color?
Purple, lavender, lilac, iris, plum, eggplant, or violet. I can’t decide.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
A pair of black pants that my daughter bought for me. They make me feel like dancin’. With Irish clicky shoes.

What were you doing ten years ago?
I am sure that I was going crazy as a working mom with a ten-month old. I am positive that exactly ten years ago to this very moment I was asking God, “But why can’t I be a stay-at-home mom? Why do I always have to work?” Wah, wah, wah.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
Printer cartridges, a few new shirts, a haircut for my son so he doesn’t look like a Beatle, a pair of comfortable shoes for my flat-footed husband, and some potted flowers to decorate my front yard.

What are you going to do after this?
Go to bed. Or maybe check a few blogs, heh, heh.

What are your favorite films?
Please see the sidebar on my blog that has a list of “Movies I Have Seen More than 5X.” Then add Twilight and I am David to that list.

Your favorite books?
The University of Success by Og Mandino, Star Girl by Henry Winterfeld, The Princess Brideby William Goldman, Xanth Novels by Piers Anthony, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, All Harry Potters by J.K Rowling, Swinging Sisters by Madonna Dries Christensen (shut UP, it is not about that,) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Big Susan by Elizabeth Orton Jones, Watership Down by Richard Adams, pretty much anything Orson Scott Card has written or will ever write, The Host by Stephenie Meyer, Heidi by Johanna Spyri, The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and the scriptures. Sorry, I only had room for 1/100 of my list.

Do you collect anything?
Compliments. Do you have any for me? I've also been known to involuntarily collect Troll dolls.

What makes you follow a blog?
Good writing, humor, a unique perspective, cool pictures and free food.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
I babysat my newish grandson. He’s such a happy little bug.

Ann's Question:What makes you comment on a blog?
I comment when the person has something valuable to say and I want them to know how much I appreciated their thoughts, or if I cannot control the urge to inject some humor.

Amy's Question:What is your favorite thing to do when you have some free time?
Reading, blogging, hanging out by water (a pool, a lake, a waterfall, the sink,) traveling.

Tonya's question:What is a talent you wished you had?
Oh, how I wish I could sing. I have a monotone voice that I can make go up and down in a sing-song manner, but it is not truly singing.

Gena's question:As you may know, I am all about "Serene Moments", so what is your "Serene Moment"?
I feel serene when it is a sunny day and there is water moving nearby.

Noelle's question: If you could go to heaven who would you see, and why?
My perfect mother. If they kept her out just because of her swearing, I'll be mad.

Vickie's question: Who is your favorite actor?
Jim Caviezel. He knocks me out with his intensity no matter what movie I see him in.

Kitten's question: Other than Blogger, Facebook, and/or Twitter, what are your most frequently-visited websites?
http://www.earlytorise.com/ for the best advice ever on how to be successful in life
http://www.newswithviews.com/ for the best news that is not under the control of the mainstream media
http://teachers.net/wong for the best website on effective teaching
http://www.sugardoodle.net/mambo for ideas on Sunday School lessons

Septembermom’s question: What was your favorite subject in school?
Reading, literature and spelling.

Randi’s question: Whose music affects you?
I love any music that is danceable. That means I like very few slow songs. (Whispering, shh… this means that I like Michael Jackson) I also like Il Divo, Celtic Woman, Josh Groban, Heart, and my son-in-law, Matt.


And now, “Tag! You’re it!” to :

Ken
Pen

I picked them because they rhyme.