5 Things Meme

Heather at Was That My Out Loud Voice tagged me for this meme (thanks, Heather!). I've had it halfway written in a draft for some time now, so here goes . . .

The 5 Things Meme

But first the rules to this meme game: Remove the blog at #1 from the following list and bump every one up one place; add your blog's name in the #5 spot; link to each of the other blogs for the desired cross pollination effect.

1. Marti http://marti2212.blogspot.com
2. Melody http://melslifeinanutshell.blogspot.com
3. -A- http://motherswork.blogspot.com
4. Heather http://outloudvoice.blogspot.com
5. Purple_Kangaroo http://purplekangaroopuzzle.blogspot.com

Next: select new friends to add to the pollen count. (No one is obligated to participate). You can just put blogs you read if you want to.

(This is the one that's been holding me up from posting this. I honestly can't think of 5 people who haven't already done this that I think would want to do it. So I'll just post 5 random blogs and they can do it or ignore it as they please, or pick and choose which parts to do.)

1. Mark_Congdon http://www.xanga.com/mark_congdon
2. Chocolate and Peanut Butter http://chocolateandpeanutbutter.blogspot.com
3. The Crazy Woman http://thecrazywoman.blogspot.com
4. Jo(e) http://writingasjoe.blogspot.com
5. Dan4x http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=dan4x

Here's the game:

What 5 Things do you miss about your childhood?

1) I miss having my sisters there with me most of the time. We were always close and enjoyed doing things together. We'd play games, tell stories, go shopping or exploring, talk for hours, or just play. Now that we're all grown up we don't get to spend nearly as much time together.

2) I miss having pets. We had cats, dogs, rabbits, and all kinds of temporary lizards, salamanders, frogs etc. caught in the woods and ponds. We also had several ponds full of koi. Those pond fish were amazing. One huge yellow fish named Beaker would come when we called him and did a number of tricks--he would swim through a hoop, "sit up and beg", "fish on a pedastal" (he'd swim onto your hand and let you pick him up out of the water), drink brine shrimp out of a baby bottle, and bump noses with the cat (they were friends).

3) I miss running and playing outside in our fabulous huge yard. We used to play all sorts of games, both typical games and ones we made up. Darktime Hide and Seek, Shadow Tag, Soldiers & Indians (It involved one team hiding in the woods while the other team tried to capture them and drag them back to the swingset and corral them there), and so much more. We had ponds and a creek in our yard, so we spent a lot of time playing in the water, building miniature boats, and jumping from bank to bank of the creek.

We also had a great neighborhood with several wilderness-type areas, and we'd go exploring, fishing, hunting for bullfrogs, etc. We built lots of forts and miniature houses out of sticks, mud and other wild materials. Just some sticks and mud and the great outdoors could keep us busy for hours. My sisters and I bought a book on wildcrafting and learned how to do everything from starting a fire without matches to creating dyes from natural sources, to identifying and cooking edible foods in the wild. Our huge, fenced and wooded yard was full of cherry and apple trees, blackberry bushes, hazelnut trees, and all sorts of good things, and sometimes we'd just eat lunch off the land. I loved living in a place like that.

4) I miss having hours and hours to read. On weekends or during the summer I used to take whole days to just read. I'd read thick books in one sitting. When I was sick I'd lie in bed and devour books, too.

5) I miss family movie nights on Sunday nights, with popcorn and apples for dinner.


Name your 5 favorite cartoons

Hmmm, this one is hard. I've never really watched cartoons that much. Here are a couple I have good memories about from my childhood:

1. Tom and Jerry

2. Pink Panther

And a few I enjoy as an adult:

3. Veggie Tales (I think my favorite is King George and the Ducky)

4. Wallace and Grommit (does that count as a cartoon?)

5. Mickey Mouse. I enjoyed it as a kid and now enjoy it with my kids.

I'm going to add a few more lists of 5 things I found on selkie's blog just now:

Five snacks I enjoy: Chocolate chips, mandarin oranges, yam puff, fresh berries, granola bars

Five songs I know all the words to: Just five? How can I pick just 5? To be totally random: Great is Thy Faithfulness, The Bear in Tennis Shoes, Mary Had a Little Lamb (all gazillion verses), Getting to Know You, Every Heartbeat

Five things I would do with $100 million: pay off our house and do some work on the yard, save some, give some away, trust funds for the kids, travel

Five places I would escape to: Mexico, Europe, the wilderness, a hot bath, the beach

Five bad habits: procrastinating, staying up too late, overextending myself, the extended "just a minute", hyperfocusing on one thing to the detriment of others

Five things I like doing: making things, thrift and garage sale shopping, playing dolls with my girls, hiking into the mountains to trout fish in streams, curling up in front of the fire on a cold day with a good book and my crocheting

Five things I'd never wear: anything that looks like underwear but is meant to be outerwear, metal chains or hooks attached to my flesh, anything with profane or derogatory sayings on it, a bikini, a miniskirt

Five TV shows I like: Numbers, Monk, Between the Lions, Little House on the Prairie (the new Disney version), Poirot

Five biggest joys of the moment: my kids (especially watching them enjoy life and listening to their in-depth conversations about life), uninterrupted time alone with DH, long (mostly) peaceful car rides with great conversations and the kids singing and talking, preparing for the baby, time with family and friends.

Five favorite toys: my doll collection, the computer, board games, my family, my woodburning kit