Alphabetized

image: stockxchange

A

AGE?
48 ...and marching towards 49..!


B

WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Mr. F


WHEN IS YOUR BIRTHDAY?
October 22


C

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CANDY?
Goetz's Caramel Cremes


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
shades of orange


D

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BREED OF DOG?
I have a soft spot for beagles, whippets, greyhounds, Boston terriers, German Shorthaired Pointers


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT?
Key Lime Pie



E

WHAT IS YOUR ETHNICITY?
This American "mutt" is a mix of French-Canadian, Greek, and German heritage


F

WHAT DO YOU FEAR MOST?
something bad happening to or losing my husband and/or child


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER?
lilies , especially tiger lilies


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FRUIT?
a perfectly ripe red or black plum


G

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE GAMES?
Board/card games like Pictionary, Taboo, and Apples To Apples



WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TYPE OF GUM?
Big Red


H

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HOCKEY TEAM?
Boston Bruins, I suppose, but I am not really into hockey (Mr. F watches the Bruins so the games are on TV and on a LOT lately because of the Stanley Cup play-off's)


WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR?
Brown

I

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Pistachio


J

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE JELLY BEAN FLAVOR?
the red kind--cherry


WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE JUNK FOOD PLACE?
Where? Somewhere on the other side of town, so no one can see me go into one of those places . Oh, the shame .
Seriously, I say I don't like "junk food" like McDonalds and Burger King and if I weaken and eat burger from there I fel like crap for the next 24 hours (even seeing the so-called food on the TV commercials disgusts me), but when I am traveling, I have to have a Mickey D's breakfast sandwich for the road and their coffee(their coffee is actually really good). That sandwich will sit in your stomach like a hard lump for the rest of the day, and you'll have to drink water all day, too, but it is pretty tasty.


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE JUICE?
Cranberry, or maybe pineapple juice because you can make French Martinis with it


K

HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU HAVE/WANT?
This is how it worked out for me and Mr. F....one(and she is a good one)

L

WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
In the biggest little state in the union, baby! ;-) In a very small house(with quite possibly the smallest bathroom in the whole USA)


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LETTER OF THE ALPHABET?
I have always been partial to the letter L...lovely, letters, lemon drops, la..la..la(wasn't there a Sesame Street bit with Bert and Ernie singing about the letter L and Ernie would say nice L words like lollipop and lilting and then Bert would sing about "lumps" in his oatmeal?

Yes, there is--thanks, YouTube!).

M

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MONTH?
October

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE?
Just one? Hmmmm...Ones I have watched over and over are..Jaws, The Sound Of Music, A Little Romance, North By Northwest, Chocolat, The Fisher King, Spinal Tap, Next Stop Wonderland, PeeWee's Big Adventure(yes, really!)

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE MUSCIAL GROUP/ARTIST?
Again--there is no way I can choose just one--see my profile for musical favorites(okay, I'll give you three--Van Morrison, The Clash, Guster to start..)


N

FAVORITE NUMBER?
I gravitate to the numeral "5". I like to write it, I *think* of it as my lucky number, I grew up in a family of five, and a few years I found out that in numerology, I am a..."5".


WHAT IS YOUR NAME?
Tina Sabine


O

ARE YOU AN ONLY CHILD?
No..an Oldest out of three, and often felt like the Odd one


P

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WAY TO PAMPER YOURSELF?
Well, being a LIbra, I am very good about making sure to pamper myself
A soak in a hot bubble bath
buy myself a bouquet of flowers
buy myself a new book after a good look around a bookstore


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING?
pepperoni


Q


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE(s )?
"The most important thing, darling, is to live a fabulous life. As long as it's fabulous, I don t care how long it is." ~ Freddie Mercury

"I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering..." ~ Steven Wright

R

WHAT DO YOU READ?
Everything...I can't go a day without reading something--magazines, cookbooks for pleasure, mysteries, biographies, memoirs, novels,(no Kindle yet, though), and blogs, of course.


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT?
Spain --delicious Spanish cuisine and attentive Spanish waiters

S

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SNACK?
nuts and seeds(almonds and toasted pumpkin seeds are good)


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SANDWICH?
Tuna on Toast or a well-made hot pastrami on rye (I don't really like most cold sandwiches)


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO SHOP?
Currently, a local consignment/resale shop called Chameleons-- I can spend 50.00 and walk out with Burberry trousers, a perfect-fitting pair of J. Crew skinny jeans, and a pair of fun dangly earrings.

T

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW?
Right now--Modern Family (scroll down.... scroll...all the way down--I am having some HTML Troubles...



WHO IS/WAS YOUR FAVORITE TEACHER ?
Miss. Beers, my third grade teacher. She was young and beautiful--she wore mini skirts and had long blond hair she wore tied back with a scarf. She picked me(!) to play Princess Tigerlily in the "Peter Plan" play we did as a class(my first ever play), and read from "The Secret Garden" to us every day after lunch. She also read from "House At Pooh Corner" and encouraged us to write our own poems, inspired by A.A. Milne. She also had a temper and didn't put up with any nonsense, and would slap a yardstick down on the desk of anyone who was not paying attention--never happened to me, though.

U

WHAT KIND OF UNDERWEAR DO YOU HAVE?
the very comfortable kind


WHAT BRAND OF UNDERWEAR DO YOU WEAR?
Whatever is on the rack at Marshall's or Kohl's (and is both sexy looking and comfortable)


V

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE VEHICLE?
one that starts right up, and that takes the least amount of fuel to get me from point "a" to point "b"


WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE VEGGIE?
Beets


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE VEGGIE?
Tomato


WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION?
Northeast Kingdom , Vermont


W

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK?
Tuesdays(have this day off), Fridays are good, too


WHAT IS YOUR KIND OF WEATHER?
sunny, puffy white clouds, light breeze--around 75*F

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE WRITERS?
Again--see my profile, as it is hard to pick just one (okay, I'll give you three--Jane Gardam , Howard Frank Mosher, Joanne Harris

X

WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS HAVE AN X?
Some of these questions are xceedingly silly(your favorite kind of gum? favorite letter of the alphabet? And yet, I found an answer to them all....)

Y

WHAT YEAR DID YOU TURN 21?
1983


WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR?
anytime it is warm enough to be outside without three layers and hats and mittens on

Z

WHAT IS YOUR ZODIAC SIGN

Libra (but my chart is heavy on the Scorpio, too, so there is some serious seething, bubbling and boiling going on beneath my polite and diplomatic facade..heh...heh...)

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ZOO ANIMAL?
Well, I never thought I had a favorite "zoo" animal, but the giraffes are cool and I like to watch the otters (I have not been to a zoo in years and years...I think I need to watch some otters soon)

There. I did it. And thank you, if you read all the way to end of this. Please, if anyone one wants to do this , try it on your own blog. I know--it is very junior high(the underwear questions, for example), but a fun time-waster.
C'mon, you know you wanna do it..

Sunday Stealing: The ABC Meme

Just getting this in before Sunday is over. Something new for me--Sunday Stealing! Go here, if you want to play along, too.

******************************************************
A – An advantage you have – artistic talent ( especially when it comes to playing Pictionary)
B – Blue or brown eyes – Brown
C – Chore you hate – washing dishes by hand
D – Dad’s name – John
E – Essential start of your day – Cawfee, of course....
F – Favorite color – orange shades
G – Greatest thing you’ve ever done that made you feel really good – Um, let's keep that between me and Mr. F, okay? ;-)
H – Habit you have – leaving things until the last minute
I – Issue you hate that the world tries to make you pursue – fitting my square peg into the round hole(learning more and more as I age to totally ignore that, though)
J – Job title – I don't even have one, really. Glorified Artistic Retail Laborer? Muddled Mom? Dog Walker. Poop Picker-Upper?
K – Kohls or Target – Kohl's, simply because there is one near us now...
L – Living arrangements – "our house..is a very, very, fine house, with one dog in the yard, life used to be so hard.... until I got lucky and married my soulmate and now have a nice little family unit of my own and a roof over my head..."
M – Music you like – Melody Gardot
N - Nicknames – Teena Beena, Tee
O – Overnight hospital stay – three times
P – Pet Peeve – drivers in cars absentmindedly doing stupid things while talking on their cell phones
Q – Quote that you like most – "Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time." ~ Steven Wright (the brain behind my blog title "I was trying to daydream..." quote, too...)
R – Right or left handed – right
S – Siblings – younger than me
T – Time you wake up – 6:15 or so....
U – Underwear – under where?
V – Vegetable you dislike – beets
W – What makes you run late – my blog and your blog!
X – X-rays you’ve had –too many, and quite a few in just the last six months
Y – Yummy food you make – Chicken Pomodoro(with a nice creamy vodka sauce)
and lastly....

Z – Zoo animal – Slow Loris

There was a Loris shown recently on R's Cute Overload page-a-day calendar--can't get the pop-eyed little critter out of my head.

Another thing I can't get out of my head is that Michael Jackson song "Rock With You" that R downloaded from iTunes and played a short while ago in the living room, along with her version of Jackson-style dancing which didn't quite work being that she had sticky feet on our bare wood floors.

Yes, R is fascinated with the life, music and demise of poor Michael Jackson and is interested in learning anything she can about him and I think she watched his videos over and over on Saturday because they were shown all day long on TV. (she was already a fan, after we gave her the 25th anniversary "Thriller" album last year)

She has invited a friend over tomorrow so they can watch a taped Michael Jackson special together. This is the friend who told R today on the phone that Jackson "was hot when he was black." Loved that!

I Am

I Am.....

*Feeling: weathered and a little old today (arrgghh..my back!)

*Wearing: dark red cotton sateen shirt with black trousers-not very spring-like, I know...

*Drinking: lukewarm coffee (too lazy to refresh my cup)

*Eating: one nearly burnt(how I like it) English Muffin with butter and apricot jam

*Listening to: blue jays and robins outside my windows, and the Weather Channel on TV from the other room. R leaves it on all the time and it takes me a while to realise that the bad, soft, so-called jazz music and the repeated phrases about the forecast are being burnt into my brain.

*Craving: a creative spell to come over me--want to get back into that feeling of time stopping when I create art. I have been neglecting that part of me out of laziness(first need to clean off my work space...again!), a kind of fatigue about it, and basically feeling uninspired.

*Worried About: not so much right now--feeling like everything will work itself out for everyone I have been worrying about lately

*Missing: my three cherries pin/brooch that I was going to wear with this shirt today. I can't understand how it has disappeared. I am messy about lots of things, but there are certain things--my car/store keys and my jewelery--which always go back to the same place.

*Wanting to: be productive this week, as far as little projects go.

*Reading: I didn't read anything all weekend...unusual for me. Not even the Sunday paper...

*Addicted to: gardening, which has been bad for my back, since I was stooped over, crouched over for most of the weekend. (I said the same thing when I did this fill-in last year at about this same time of year, interestingly..)

*Dreaming about: my plants blooming in a few weeks and not having to buy flowers , but cutting my own from my own garden.

**Okay...need to turn the TV off(yep, Weather Channels' still on..) and walk Miss Jewel (while it isn't raining..)

If you have read this far, I'll tell you a little secret! There is a ghost in the shed window..!

Not really, but I almost spooked myself when I clicked on my picture(the old shed at top) to see it larger, just for the heck of it(and to delay walking the dog).

I thought--was it really there?--an arm!

Then realised it was my own reflection in the part of the window that wasn't broken and missing. I can see my own claw-like hand holding the camera and a little bit of my head.

First Things

A "firsts" meme I found at Protege's blog,
which also had a pretty informative explanation of the term "meme".

1. Who was your FIRST prom date?
I never went to a prom. No one asked me...*sniff*

2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love?
No.

3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink?
Not exactly sure-I know I must have been pretty young, since my mother gave us "ein Schlug" of brandy to drink from a shot glass when we were really sick with a fever and cold, and we had red wine with Sunday dinners sometimes with my parent's approval(a small glassful starting when was about ten). Then, I discovered I liked little sips of Bailey's Irish Creme from the bottle in the liquor cabinet without my parent's knowing when was in my teens.

4. What was your FIRST job?
babysitter--I pretty much had the entire neighborhood as a client base at one time...

5. What was your FIRST car?
a brown 1973 or 74 Mercury Maverick/Comet --not sure which it was now...it was the cheapest car I could cobble together my money for at the time, and really, I would love to have a car like that now.

6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today?
I don't text

7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?
Mr. F

8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher?
Mrs. Gamage (there she is, in all her school marm glory, at the top!)

9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane?
Germany

10. Who was your FIRST best friend & do you still talk?
A girl called Ann in the first grade but I haven't seen her in years and years....

11. Where was your FIRST sleep over?
I think at my friend Sandra's or Susan's...starting around the 5th grade, I went to a lot of slumber parties..

12. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today?
my daughter

13. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time?
My friend Sandra's first wedding. I remember it was the first time I had to wear a strapless bra because of the design of the bridesmaid dress, and having to finally remove the damn thing during the reception (well, not right at the reception, but in a bathroom) because it had this wire apparatus digging into my ribcage.

14. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?
Let the cat out

15. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to?
The Kinks

16. FIRST tattoo?
none

17. First piercing?
the usual-- one hole in each ear , and I am not even sure how old I was when I had it done but was at least eighteen years old.

18. First foreign country you’ve been to?
Although I don't remember my first trip over the border because I was so young, I would have to say Canada(I was baptised in Montreal), although it sounds a little strange to call it "foreign".

19. FIRST movie you remember seeing?
Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" when I was about five years old. There must have been a revival of it playing in cinemas that year.

20. When was your FIRST detention?
Never. I was a good girl(aside from nipping into the Bailey's)

21. What was the first state you lived in?
New York State(born way upstate)

22. Who was your FIRST roommate?
my sister

Anyone else want to try this "firsts" meme???

Friday Feast

I found this "starters to dessert" survey on this site. It doesn't look like it is updated anymore. The last "Friday Feast" was from July 11, but I liked the idea of doing something random like this every Friday.

Friday--a day when I am usually feeling light-hearted being that it is Friday(!) and end of the work week and also am fairly brain dead so it is a good no-brainer way to get me writing about something here.

*Here goes:

Appetizer
When was the last time you had your hair cut/trimmed?

Last Friday. My stylist was late for my appointment since she was in the E.R. getting her cut foot looked at(cut by a shell with barnacles when she was swimming that morning in the river with her dog I found out), but she was worth waiting for. I love how she cuts my hair and when I walk out of there, my hair doesn't look like it was just cut, but looks exactly the way I like it to. Now THAT is the perfect haircut. Of course, this morning, my hair is shaped kind of funny because I slept on it while it was very damp(I was just SO tired last night and got into bed right after my shower and I don't think ever woke up all night until the rude awakening of the alarm).

Soup
Name one thing you miss about being a child.

Being over-the-top excited about birthdays and Halloween and Christmas. I'll never feel quite like that ever again. This reminds me of the butterflies in my stomach feeling I would even get on the first day of school--could barely eat anything for breakfast. Nothing ever feels like that now. The closest I get to it is when I have travelled somewhere new.

Salad
Pick one: butter, margarine, olive oil.

Butt-ah, bay-bee...yeah, I am a butter addict. Although olive oil is good stuff, too. Margarine...ech! I can't even stand the smell of it, so forget about ever cooking with it or eating it.

Main Course
If you could learn another language, which one would you pick, and why?

Italian--it sounds so beautiful to my ear. Whenever I hear it spoken, I want so badly to speak like that, too.

Dessert
Finish this sentence: In 5 years I expect to be…

....getting grey hairs and acting a little bit more mature, at least. (I'll be 50).

Anyone else care to share their own "Friday Feast"?