I was tagged by Ballerina Girl This looked like fun!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago: (I had to think a long time to remember!!! Selective memory at work.)
Struggling to finish my Doctoral Dissertation (Struggle: Sitting up late at night staring at a computer screen with frozen poised hands and dead brain!!! )

2. Five things on my "to do" list:
Simplify my house (Simplify: code for toss out junk I am hoarding for God's knows what reason)
Write at least a chapter a day all summer on one of my projects (Okay, five a week)
Finish the boys' scrapbooks
Finish the Heritage scrapbook
Exercise at least once in a blue moon

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Semi-healthy: Laughing Cow cheese (light) on Wheat Thins
Strawberries -- better covered in chocolate
Popcorn -- lots of butter preferred
Ooey-Gooey Stuff:
Cheesecake
Frozen Coffee Drinks -- preferably Mocha
Jamba Juice drinks
Did I mention chocolate or dark chocolate?

4. Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
Build a retreat/conference center designed to promote effective personal ministry
Then organize and staff the center. I'd stay very hands on, except...
Spend several weeks in the tropics, near the ocean each year
Continue to enjoy the company of family and friends

5. Places I have lived:
Rural Missouri
California both Stockton and Menlo Park
Ecuador, Quito and Santo Domingo de Los Colorados
Illinois, Chicago area

And I am tagging: YOU!!!

A couple of people tagged me for a meme...I can't find the tag now...Duh!

BUT..."Write a 6 word memoir...6 words that describe you" was the essence.
I promised to do it on Saturday... I know this is Sunday...but here goes.
(And it's not 6 words...I never went to Kindergarten, so I can't count.)

TEACHER
Energetic, Dependable
Cooperating, Thinking Positively & Creatively
Determined like a bull dog
ME

(And yes, I broke the Cinquain rules, too, with that third line....SO???)
That's my 6-word memoir!
And YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED! If you want to play.

WHAT ARE YOU READING THAT"S GOOD?
BOOKS MEME

I sat down tonight wondering what I will blog about. Since I left school about 2 and a half hours ago I have driven through rain, sleet, hail and snow. They're predicting 12 inches for us this evening through tonight and up to 8 inches tomorrow. We haven't had that much snow since 1973 when we left town ahead of the snowstorm of the century. And I'm bored WRITING about snow...I won't bore you.

So, I was pleased as punch to discover that heather had tagged me for a meme.
This one I really like because I always love to hear what people are reading!

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages.)
   
2. Open the book to page 123.
   
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.
   

The nearest book to me (It arrived today and I brought it home on the off chance that tomorrow is a snow day and I could spend the day curled up with the book by the fireplace! Please!! Please!!! Please!!)

Drawing on the right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards.

Page 123:

"Emphasis on negative spaces unifies your drawing and strengthens composition and--perhaps most important, improves your perceptual abilities.

"I realize that it is counter-intuitive--that is, it goes against common sense--to think that focusing on the spaces around objects will improve your drawing of the objects. But this is simply another of the paradoxes of drawing and may help to explain why it is so difficult to teach oneself to draw. So many of the strategies of drawing--using negative space, for example--would never occur to anyone "in their left mind."


Okay that is boring to anyone not interested in education, psychology and left-right brain theory. (I'm trying to get out of my "left mind" -- maybe I can learn to use my "right mind.") And my readers are saying, "Just get a mind!!! Or get a life!!"

Fine. I'll agree. That book has limited appeal. (Although some of my home-schooling Mom friends and other educator/psychology people might find it interesting)

Next closest book:

Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin's Path to God by Brennan Manning.

"Drop your various identities as author, evangelist, and spiritual leader, admired by your friends and respected by your reading audience. Simply present yourself to God, clinging to nothing but your humanness."

"And so the hours of prayer became a death to all past achievements and any identity not grounded in truth."

This one is a great book. I highly recommend it...(Is it just me, or did that passage speak to anyone like me who can become a site meter addict?)

And I now tag a few people I know love to read: What book is nearby???

Jen at MomtoJonahandJude
Valerie
Mrs. Darling
Joanne
Lisa B

And anybody else who'd like to play! Tell us what you're reading!! Or at least what book is lying nearby!

Hope all of you have a wonderful day -- and plenty of time to read!

PJ

This is a test

I've been tagged by Ann for a meme. (my first!) We shall now see if I'm smart enough (Okay, techie savvy enough) to follow the rules and post the hot links, etc. (Hurray, I managed to get the "Ann" as a hotlink!)

THE RULES

The rules for this meme are:
(1) Link to the person that tagged you.
(2) Post the rules on your blog.
(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Six weird things about me: (That should get me out of a blue funk quickly: I'll just think about how strange I am, and I'll laugh all the way to Starbucks.)

1. I'm afraid of birds. (Ornithophobia) Especially chickens, but any kind of bird. I'm not afraid of cows, horses or pigs. (I grew up on a farm.) Birds give me cold shivers. I cannot bring myself to touch one. (Yes, there's a story -- later!)

2. I am a "messy," but I know where things are in my disorganized-looking piles. Whenever I clean up (get it to look organized and neat), I inevitable lose something important that I don't find for weeks. Then...of course, I remember, "I put it away there!" (This morning I just "found" the two new bath mats I bought two weeks ago)

3. I have worn acrylic nails for 23 years -- continuously. My nail beds are teensy tiny -- my pinky nail is so small that on the rare occasion the tech has to put a plastic tip on, she doesn't have one small enough, but must file down the smallest she has. (Yes, I kept the acrylics all the way through chemo, even when my hands were so swollen they looked like a lump of meat with five sausages sticking out -- my acrylic nails were firmly intact!!)

4. Since chemo all of my hair has grown back, EXCEPT arm pits. (Too much info?? Whatever, most of my readers are female) Weird? Yes, but wonderful too!! (I don't recommend chemotherapy just for that, though it is a nice side effect!)

5. I'm addicted to puzzles (Sudoku, crossword, etc) and won't go anywhere without one (or more) in my purse or briefcase.

6. I can sleep anywhere, anytime, any place. I once fell asleep in church playing the organ. I held a chord too long and it woke me up. I was terribly embarrassed, but I don't think anybody realized why I had fumbled. It's just TOO weird to contemplate.

I tag:

Sarah
Mrs. Darling
Anni
Heather
:0) mg
Tammy

*Note: I spent approximately two hours trying to write the hot links in html -- at partial success. Then I "discovered" the "Link" button on the tool bar and did all of them in less than 5 minutes!!! I suppose I can say I learned something today!!!! (Is this #7 on the list of weird things about me???)