Honestly Scrappy

In my typical way, it has taken me weeks and weeks to acknowledge and participate in an Honest Scrap award/tag I was given by both Claudia and Zuzana. Thank you, ladies, for thinking of me, and I didn't forget you--just sort of filed it away in the "must-add-to-blog-eventually" file. And I pulled it out of that file today.
Here are the "official" rules:
A) List 10 honest things about yourself—and make them interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
B) Pass the award on to 7 bloggers(I think I'll pass it on two beautiful Greek bloggers--Anastasia and December Girl) who you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap and whose blogs you find brilliant in design or content.

So, here are some possibly interesting and honest things about the Gal Friday.

1. I can't read a mystery unless it is set in the British Isles. I have tried mysteries set in the U.S., Italy, etcetra, but for some reason it doesn't seem right to me and I just can't enjoy them. So, it is always British "location" mysteries for me, be it a "cozy"(Ann Granger), or a psychological one (Ruth Rendell, Minette Walters) or classic old-school mysteries(Agatha Christie).

2. I can't whistle. Never could figure out how to do it.

3. I have never played any kind of video game(if this is even the correct name for them) or X Box or Nintendo or Guitar Band(or is it Rock Hero?) and have zero interest in ever doing so.

4. I love polka dots--definitely have a weakness for them. I would just love to have this blouse, for instance.

5. Also, I have a weakness for striped socks and stockings. Even at age of "nearly" 47, if I see a pair of striped knee socks, I am immediately attracted and want to buy them. I just bought a pair of black and white knee high ones the other day.

6. I am very childish about things like old cartoons and children's books. I'll happily sit down to watch old Bugs Bunny and Pink Panther cartoons and guffaw loudly, or look at and even still buy children's picture books(I say it is for my husband's third grade classroom). I miss reading aloud to my daughter very much. And I am continually amazed by the beautiful and/or funny books out there for children. I also love having copies of old favorites from my childhood around.




7. I don't eat eggs other than scrambled(and then they have to be very dry and cooked to death and even then I can't sometimes finish them) or in a recipe(as in baked goods). Just to look at and smell fried or hard or soft-boiled eggs makes me sick. I think I have written about this before. I think I am running out of unique things to tell about myself at this point.



8. I am very afraid of heights. A real phobia.
Crossing a tall bridge, whether as a passenger or driver(white knuckles gripping the steering wheel the whole way over) is an almost panicky thing for me. I can't stand against a glass window of a skyscraper window (went to the top of one of the now-gone World Trade Towers once as a teen and felt physically ill and could only remain in the center against a wall) and am barely able to even watch other people without my form of fear as they peer down cliff edges and other tall places. I won't even go on a Ferris Wheel at a fair! Just the *thought* of the movie
"Man On A Wire" gives me a chill.





9. I often fear I am not liked--in my online and offline life. I worry that I say things the wrong way, am annoying, and offend people(when I don't mean to) and come off as strange and snobby. I hide behind a mask of sorts and only really open up to a few people when I feel safe and I think people who don't know me well can't see beyond that. Now, I actually like myself(have learned to do away with most self-esteem issues and accept I am stuck with who I am, so might as well make the best of it)--but still don't like that some people don't like me. Should a nearly 50 year old person be this silly and confused? Probably not, but that is how I have always been.


10. I love it when men wear black turtlenecks(or in the case of my husband who can't stand anything that high up on his neck--black or dark colored "mock" turtlenecks). Such a good look on a man...oh yeah.White turtlenecks, on the other hand--not such a good look on a man, IMHO. Unless, you are Tony Bennett--now HE can wear a white turtleneck(and can sing).