Saturday Six - Episode 89

Here are this week's "Saturday Six" questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal...but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as "first to play," you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

1. Which of the following generally costs you more: a normal trip to your barber/hairstylist, your usual lunch at your favorite restaurant, the most recent amount you paid to fill up your gas tank, or your biggest single contribution to a single charity in 2005?
Gas.

2. What drink -- alcoholic or not -- do you drink entirely too much of?
Soda or kool-aid.

3. Did you receive a Christmas card from anyone you didn't send one to? Did you send them a belated card in return?
I usually don't send out Christmas cards but I usually receive at least one from an old friend. I usually email her during the year.

4. Take this quiz (if you haven't already!): What is most important in your life?
Love is most important in your life.

5. Before taking the quiz, which of its categories (career, love, money, health, family or fun) would you have said would be your answer?
I would have said family.

6. Do you believe in soulmates? Do you think that there are at least one out there for every person, that there is a single "true" soulmate for every person, or that there aren't soulmates for everyone?
Yes, I believe in soulmates and yes, there is probably at least one soulmate for every person. You just have to be in the right place at the right time to find them.

Sunday Seven - Episode 16

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION from Patrick's Weekender: What are your all-time favorite television commercials? If "favorite" isn't the right word for you, then what are the seven that tend to stand out the most in your mind? You can use the TV Guide list for some ideas if you're drawing a blank.

1. Wendy's "Fluffy Bun," 1984 -- "Where's the Beef?"
2. California Raisins, "Lunchbox," 1986 -- Dancing to "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
3. Taco Bell, "Romeo & Juliet," 1998 -- "Yo quiero Taco Bell"
4. Coca-Cola, "Hilltop," 1971 -- "I'd like to teach the world to sing..."
5. Coca-Cola, "Mean Joe Greene," 1979 -- Receives a Coke from a kid
6. Partnership for a Drug-Free America, "Fried Egg," 1987 -- "This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?"
7. Oscar Mayer, "My Bologna has a First Name," 1963

Patrick's Weekender: Saturday Six - Episode 88

Here are my responses to this week's "Saturday Six" questions.

1. How much of your Christmas shopping and holiday card mailing do you have left to accomplish? When do you expect to finish it if you haven't already?
About half of it. Won't be done until at least Friday.

2. When giving gifts to co-workers or casual friends, how much importance do you place on the value of the gift you're giving them versus the value of the gift you imagine they're giving you?
I usually find some craft item and pass them out. I don't really worry about what they're giving.

3. What are you secretly hoping someone will give you for Christmas that you haven't specifically asked for?
A roundtrip ticket to Ohio for Christmas. Not sure what I'll be doing this year since everyone else has made their own plans.

4. Take this quiz (if you haven't already!): Which Jones Holiday Soda Flavor are you?

You Are Smoked Salmon Pate Soda

Tasting like fish ain't so bad!

What Jones Holiday Soda Are You?

5. Would you actually try that flavor?
No way!

6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #78 from Carly: If you could step into the life of any fictional Christmas character -- Scrooge, Rudolph, Frost, etc. -- and live that part, which character would you choose and why?
The little drummer boy just to see the baby Jesus.

Your Monday Photo Shoot: More Than One

From By the Way comes Your Monday Photo Shoot: Show us a series of pictures with a theme. "A series" in this case can mean "two" but three or four would be good. The theme could be anything you want, although it being the holidays, something holiday-oriented would be a good and easy thing to do.

Mine comes from last winter's trip to Ohio for the holidays. I had enough snow last year so I'm not going this year (there are other reasons, too). Maybe this part of Texas will see snow again . . .

Can you believe those icicles? Or the thickness of the evergreens? Or the snow resting on the branches?

I like Texas weather but I miss having a white Christmas. Somehow 60 degree weather just isn't Christmas to me.

Tree tipped in red

There are supposed to be pictures on this site so here's one.


At my office, my desk is not by the window but I noticed this view. From this angle it appears to be a tree outlined in red leaves. From other angles, however, it is actually three trees perfectly in line. The middle tree is a brillant red and shows just enough to frame the tree in front of it. I took this picture about two weeks ago, yes in late November. Texas trees are confused and have been changing colors and losing leaves since early October, although some never seem to completely lose their leaves. I thought the peak for colorful leaves was over but here's proof it's not.

Sunday Seven - Episode 15

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION from Sunday Seven:

What are your top seven favorite Christmas songs? Use ASCAP's list for an idea starter, but you need not pull your seven only from that list. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, list up to seven holiday songs you like to hear this time of year.

1. Silent Night - The Temptations
2. Little Drummer Boy - (the cartoon version)
3. Who would imagine a King? - Whitney Houston
4. Joy to the World
5. What Child is This?
6. Mary Did you Know?
7. Handel's Messiah - (it's not A song but I like the whole thing)

Saturday Six - Episode 87

Saturday Six for this week.

1. You're producing a school program for the holidays and you learn that there will be major objections if you include in your musical selections the traditional Christmas hymns that reference the "true meaning of Christmas." Assuming that there are secular tunes (like "Frosty the Snowman") already included in the program, what do you do with the hymns? Do you allow them to go as is, do you use the melody and rewrite the words, do you include as many pieces of music from other religions as possible, or do you remove all but the secular songs?
I'll deal with the objections. This year there seems to be so much talk about taking out the "true meaning of Christmas" out of everything but that's what I believe in, the true meaning of Christmas.

2. What percentage of your Christmas shopping is done at this point? When do you expect to have it finished if you haven't already finished?
Not much of mine is done. I usually wait until the last minute.

3. What was your favorite board game to play as a kid? Is it still your favorite now?
Does Chinese Checkers count as a board game? If not, Sorry was a favorite. I still like Sorry but card games have taken over now.

4. Take this quiz (if you haven't already!): What famous artist should paint your portrait?
Leonardo da Vinci should paint your portrait. You are a very mysterious person with a hidden depth. You are very smart and often find that few people understand you. You create a lot of talk wherever you go because of your strangeness - but people just want to know more about you.

5. How accurate is this quiz's description of you?
Only about 25% true.

6. If you could go back in time and have one more picture taken with a deceased loved one, who would you select and why?
It would definietly be my grandmothers. I don't think I took a picture with either one.

The Friday Five

Playing the Friday Five this week.

1. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom but if I had to work, I wanted to be a teacher.

2. Did you follow through? If not, what happened?
No, only thing I am is a mom but I have worked outside the house ever since before I had kids in corporate America. In college I couldn't decide what I really wanted to do so I dropped out when I was offered a job. I went back after the first child and received a bachelor's degree in Accounting.

3. Is your life turning out the way you thought it would when you were a kid? If not, is it better or worse?
It's not what I thought back then but it is what is. Depending on what I focus on, it is probably as best as it can be.

4. Paradoxes aside, if you could time-travel back to when you were 10 years old, what would you tell your 10-year-old self?
Have more confidence and enjoy the moment.

5. Do you think the child you were, would like the adult you've become?
Yes, I think she'd think I was pretty smart.

Weekend Assignment #89: What I Really Want

It's time to play the Weekend Assignment. Here we go.

Weekend Assignment #89: Money is no object: What do you really want for Christmas/Hanukkah/The Seasonal Celebration of Your Choice? Shoot for the moon, here folks. Share the thing you'd want to get if everyone you knew was a billionaire and wanted to spend money on you. One caveat: Don't ask to get celebrities of other people for the purposes of, well, you know. We're trying to keep things PG around here. Also: wishing for world peace is all very nice, but come on. Treat yourself.

Extra Credit: Seriously, what would you do if someone got you that thing?

I would have to say land and the house I wanted in the country. I thought about Texas but I realized that if everything, including bugs, are bigger in here and if my suburban yard has snakes (garden, I hope) in it, maybe Tennessee might not be so bad. If someone did that I'd be shocked but I know it was truly a gift from God.

Early morning

It's too early for anyone to be up especially on a Sunday morning. A part of my job monthly involves some late night and the wee hours of Sunday morning. Saturday is always a busy day for me so I usually don't get much sleep to be up this early. I'm still trying to get this blog thing going regularly. My time is split so many different ways that I'm too tired to do much with this. Anyway, I'm off to seeing what I've missed in blogland and will probably put in another entry.