Monday MEME

Coming Home for the Monday Meme


Whisking our way home from B.C. today and thinking about the novel. I am unplugged for the month. The novel is all until June anyway when I hope to have the first draft (which is a misnomer because I have rewritten plenty already) done.

Home is a subjective, isn’t it. You wouldn’t think I would feel attached to a spot so far from where I started out. I like the idea that as an adult a person is always between homes. Home is where one is and where one came from and where one is moving towards.

Alan Jackson wrote and sang a song about Home. In it he names his childhood home and declares it that only place he will ever call “home”. I know people who long for little patches of ground because of the better memories they perceive got left behind there and people who attach “home” to people only. Home is where the heart is held fast, I guess.

I think a lot about home these days. We are finishing up the outside reno on our home and then we will take a break before tackling what remains to be done inside. I am always mindful that this home will not be our forever one and yet at the same time, I don’t count on that either because life has so often had other plans for me than the ones I had for myself.

My mom is working on creating the home she always wanted but that Dad’s stingy ways and deep-rooted aversion to change kept her from having, but I wonder if she will find the comfort in it that she hopes for? 

My brother, CB, searches for a home. Any home. I don’t think he will ever find one that holds him still.

MK the middle daughter is hoping for a new home amongst like-minded commune dwellers, but I fear she to will be disappointed. She is still too young to realize that if something is truly important, you should take charge of it yourself.

So, to recap, home is a place of the past. present and future. It is a subject and an object. A dream, a need and an idea.

When you are home, where is that exactly?

Another Monday of Me(me)ing


Facebook is a virtual goldmine of trivial pursuits.

1. Your ex is on the side of the road, on fire. What do you do?
I think they mean “husband” and I don’t have an ex-husband, just a dead one, so if I saw him on the side of the road – on fire no less – it would be something akin to Moses spotting the burning bush, and I would know to start looking for the four horsemen.

2. Your best friend tells you she is pregnant. What is your reaction?
Oooo, not good. That is about the last thing she needs right now.

3. When is the last time you wanted to punch someone in the face?
Punch someone? Verbally lacerate is more my thing.

4. What is the last thing you spent money on?
Office stuff at Staples. I am organizing (don’t laugh). Oh, and new runners and hikers. I love me some athletic footwear.

5. Do you think you gained or lost weight this past month?
Lost. I have been super good about sticking to my diet. I am almost like a diabetic in needing to adhere closely to a strict intake of allowed foods only. I have also been walking a lot and pushing myself with the yoga.

6. Crunchy or Puffy Cheetos?
Excuse me while I step back into my plastic bubble.

7. The first person on your friends list just called you a bitch. What do you do?
This is a Facebook question. Almost no one ever contacts me at all through this list, but the term “bitch” was an endearing one back in my young and stupid college days. Now it’s used by women who are deluding themselves into believing that we can co-opt it, tame it and bend it to our will. Not. It’s still a derogatory term and when “they” get you to call yourself by a name “they” have used to enslave you – “they” win.

8. Congratulations! You just had a son. What’s his name?
Thank goodness this is not a possibility in real time. I like the name Tristan.

9. Congratulations! You just had a daughter. What’s her name?
Ditto on the above sentiments and then let’s say Sarah or Laura.

10. What are you craving right now?
A chai

11. What was the last thing you cried about?
I heard a sad, sappy country song driving into town. It conjured up things.

12. When you buy something and your change is 2 cents, do you keep it or tell the cashier to keep it?
I drop it in the penny cup or into whatever donation of the day box is handy.

13. What color is your tissue box?
Currently if is a pastel greyish sort of colour.

14. Do you have a ceiling fan in your bedroom, and if so, is there dust on that fan?
Yes and yes. Rob cleans them when the weather warms up enough to need them. I am not allowed to purposely expose myself to that much dust.

15. What was the last voicemail you received about?
It was for Rob from Canadian Blood Services about his donation time.

16. Have you ever blocked someone on Facebook?
I have requested to “see less of this person” once, but I haven’t blocked.

17. Scariest thing you’ve experienced in the last year?
When someone tried to get in while Rob was out of town and I had to dial 911.

18. Do you wear a name tag at work?
While it is hardly necessary now, I did have a badge at my old school because it was needed to open the door and to keep people from thinking I was one of the kids (seriously, that was still happening despite my advancing age).

19. What kind of car do you want?
I have the vehicle I want.

20. What do you order when you go to Burger King?
Excuse me?

21. Have you ever had a garage sale?
Yes, and I am trying to talk Rob into another one this spring, but he isn’t biting.

22. What color is your cell phone?
Black

23. What is the last alcoholic beverage you had?
Wine on Valentine’s.

24. Are you happy right now?
Yes

25. Who came over to your house last?
The girls came out for dinner on Easter.

26. Do you drink beer?
No, it makes me sick. Even just a little.

27. Have your brothers or sisters ever told you that you were adopted?
We were all adopted, so it wasn’t ever necessary.

28. What is your favorite key on your key chain?
Who has favorite keys? This is so Facebook.

29. What was the last movie you watched at home?
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It was “meh”.

30.What is in your pocket?
I have no pockets.

31. Who introduced you to your bf/gf/husband/wife?
Rob introduced himself via a PM on the widda board where we were posting.

32. Where do you hurt?
My mid back is seized up a bit, but I am slowly working it out.

33. Has someone ever made you a build a bear?
Yes, BabyD loved that bear building place. Fortunately, we don’t live anywhere near one anymore.

34. What’s something fun you did today?
Worked on my novel.

35. What is your favorite aisle at Target?
I haven’t been to Target since our last trip to the States, so I love everything about it.

36. When is your birthday?
Why is there always a request for birth dates?

37. Is there anything hanging from your rear view mirror?
No

38. How many states in the US have you been to?
Thirteen or fourteen. Not sure.

39. What kind of milk do you drink?
Skim. Started in college and can’t readjust to fuller bodied now.

40. What are you going to do after this?
Work on the blog a bit more and hit the novel. Take a walk at some point. Have lunch with Rob. Stretch my back out in child’s pose.

41. Who was the last person you went shopping with?
If I shop with anyone, it is daughter or husband. I have no partners in spending up here.

42. What is something you need to go shopping for?
Groceries

43. Do you have the same first name as one of your relatives?
Yes, Ann is a family name.

44. What kind of car do your parents drive?
Mom and Dad both have Malibu’s. My sister, DNOS, got Dad’s car after he died which is still a sore point for our brother, CB.

45. Are you rich?
BabyD has been asking that a lot lately. One night she was in tears thinking that we were going to lose our house because we didn’t have money enough to keep it. (We own the house outright.) We are fine.

46. What color is your couch?
Dark brown

48. What famous person do you look like?
In college I was told I have Christie Brinkly’s profile, but Rob tells me I remind him of Tea Leoni.

49. Does someone like you right now?
BabyD looks a lot like me depending on the time of day and her attitude.

50. Say you were given a pregnancy test right now. Would you pass or fail?
I am unclear on what this question is asking. I would not be pg that’s for sure.

51. Favorite pop-tart flavor?
I like brown sugar cinnamon, but pop-tarts tear up my stomach.

52. Do you know anyone in jail/prison?
Yes, an old friend’s now ex-husband is in prison for the murder of their 3 year old son.

53. What are your plans for the weekend?
There is a thing at the museum I should go help out with because my writing group is sponsoring it.

54. Do you like the color green?
Yes, all shades really.

55. Who was the last person you sent an instant message to?
I rarely ever text but it was probably Rob.

56. Last restaurant you went to?
Boston Pizza

57. How many hours did you sleep for last night?
7ish

58. Do you swear at your parents?
What would be the point?

59. Do you think someone is thinking about you right now?
I am not THAT egocentric despite what some people think.

60. Have you ever changed your clothes while in a vehicle?
Probably. I can’t recall off-hand when.

61. What is your ringtone?
I don’t know. I try not to pay too much attention to those kind of details.

62. What were you doing at midnight last night?
I’ll let you decide.

A Dream Get-Away is Monday’s Meme


I am in the mountains as you read this. I am unplugged and writing on paper as God intended.  

We have a timeshare here. Makes us sound well-endowed, eh? But it is an Albertan thing that is far less glitteratti than it sounds. Still, it is a nice condo nestled in the more majestic part of the Rockies with hot springs and golf courses and trails galore (and a little like Arkansas because the locals live rustic and free ranging).

I have other get-away dreams. Dreams of spending a summer overlooking the Mississippi and whiling away the days in dinky B.C. mountain towns capturing the people and setting with words and a little bit of artistic license.

But enough about me. What about you. Impose whatever limitations on yourself you feel necessary or fling family, job and sense to the wind. 

In your mind’s eye, where are you and why?