This is not permission…

to send me more memes or tags.

However, Don Singleton tagged me and I had promised to complete it for him – then Katrina happened and, you know…I can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Since I’ve been under the weather this weekend, I thought doing the meme would be a good way to sort of kickstart myself back into blogging…but no, the energy is not there, yet.

But here it is!

Ten Years Ago:
My boys were ten and six and I was feeling quasi-funked out, because they didn’t seem to need me as much has they had. Began thinking about going back to school and finishing up a degree. I moved from Democrat to Independent.

To be honest, life wasn’t much different than it is today except that I was more mobile. The idea of using a cane was laughable. But my knees were beginning to get arthritic and I was noticing some balance problems.

Five Years Ago:
**I had giant water bottles and many cans of tuna, beans and sardines leftover from the “Y2K” threat, and I begged the Boy Scouts to take them on camping trips to get rid of them. Took a while.

**I finished writing a book that had taken me so long to complete that when it was finally done technology had moved beyond what I’d written and I wasn’t in the mood to edit the damn thing. Shoved it in a desk drawer.

**Began another book, which is 13 chapters done and is today in another desk drawer, because I am stumped.

**Wrote a little prayerbook and shoved it in a desk drawer.

**I voted for a Republican candidate for the first time in my life. Still proud to have cast that vote.

One Year Ago:
**It became sadly clear that my brother would not be with us much longer, and enormous amounts of energy and family time was spent with him.

**Cashed my first royalty check from the sales of the little prayerbook. You would not be impressed by it. But I wasn’t writing for the money. Thank God, because if I had to support myself writing…well…you know the rest.

One Day Ago:
**Went to evening mass and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, afterward, prayed for everyone in my prayerbook.

**Accidently stepped on a slug as I walked to my car. Gross. Slippery, too.

One Hour Ago:
**I was whispering “I love you, safe flight” over the phone to my husband, as he let me know he was on a plane waiting for take-off.

** Then I had a long talk with my guardian angel, his guardian angel and – just for good measure – St. Michael, the Archangel. (You know, it’s always good to get to know the supervisors…)

Five Favorite Snacks:
Vanilla Ice Cream
Oatmeal Cookies
Cheeze-Its
Okay, I admit it. I love chocolate.
And red Twizzlers. Gimmee candy.

Five Songs I Know the Words to:
I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General
O Magnum Mysterium
The Star Spangled Banner
Sing, my tongue, the savior’s glory
Amazing Grace

What I would do with 5 Millon Dollars

**Put one million into trust accounts for each of my kids and not tell them about it until they were older, on their feet and content enough with their lives that it wouldn’t change them or their values.

**Put one million dollars into an annuity of some sort, so that each year underprivileged kids who can’t afford to get out of a crappy public high school can have their tuition covered.

**Put one million dollars into another annuity fund to pay for lessons and instruments for kids (and some adults) who have real talent but no money for private lessons. It would be like a foundation for Music Education.

**Spread half a million or so between various medical and religious charities and foundations, particularly those which are about helping young Catholics discern vocations.

**Take the other half and put some away for retirement. I’d spend the rest buying my husband a car that is fast and red (or grey and elegant, whatever he wants – he’s too practical to spend an outrageous amount) and treating my family and friends to a lavish cruise somewhere – preferably without my ever having to leave the boat to visit a port, and “see things,” which is such a nuisance. Copious amounts of lobster – in all manner of presentation – will be involved.

**With anything left, I’d let my kids pick out new instruments for themselves, and maybe give Buster a new zoot suit.

**And maybe I’d buy myself a new cane….

5 Places I would escape to for a while:
St. Cecilia’s Abbey, Ryde, Isle of Wight
West of Ireland
Tuscany
Capri
Jerusalem

5 Things I would not wear
**Dresses or skirts. My legs are ugh. You’ll note, I never make fun of Hillary’s pantsuits. We are sisters of the thick ankles.

**High-necked anything

**Bracelets

**Anything tight or binding…I like to be kinda flow-y

**Lots of makeup. A little’s ok. I usually forget and rub it off, anyway.

5 Favorite TV Programs
Yankee Games
House
Seinfeld Reruns
Raymond Reruns
Turner Classic Movies

5 Greatest Joys
My kids and my husband
Hanging with my family
Writing
Reading
Swimming
I am am unrepentant homebody.

5 Favorite Toys
Internet
Word Processor
Books
An SUV in the snow
Radio/CD player

5 People I will tag to play…

Julie
Kobayashi Maru
Tracey
Jimmie Bise
Maxed Out Mama

Heh…as I was looking up Julie’s url, I found this And since she wants me to do it – and since she is a good egg – I will. Mostly because so many of her answers are the same as mine that it’s not much work! :-)

Getting to Know Me …

5 things I plan to do before I die:

1. Play and bake with my grandchildren, please God.
2. Get more stuff published, or find a permanent editing gig. Or a regular column, somewhere in some obscure little publication. I’d like that.
3. Pay off all my debts.
4. See my children happily established in their vocations
5. Go on a 30 day retreat. A silent one. Not for wimps!

5 things I can do:

1. I can write while in the throes of passionate rage or excitement and actually sound sensible and temperate.
2. Edit very well, particularly dialogue. I have an “ear” for it.
3. Crossword Puzzles. I’m like an idiot savant with them.
4. Sing. No, really. My lilting soprano can be heard on several recordings. If you listen veeerrry closely. I’m not a bad public speaker, either. As long as I have notes, and don’t wander off.
5. This sounds weird, but I’m good at praying, alone or with someone. I can Sit very comfortably and for long stretches, with very sick, even dying, people. I am also good at helping people arrange funeral services. I know, I know. Who’da thunk it?

5 things I cannot do:

1. Get comfortable in crowds – just get me out. Get me out now.
2. Enjoy meeting new people in social settings. I want to both meet them and run in the opposite direction at precisely the same instant.
3. Understand technological things. I cannot backup my hard-drive.
4. Argue orally with lucidity and detachment. I can do it effortlessly and naturally on the page. In person – orally – I pick up on vibes and non-verbal cues and it sets me off and lucidity disappears. Detachment, too. I’ve never flung a knife at anyone but…usually knives aren’t around. Spoons, yeah.
5. Dance, anymore. I used to love to dance, but it’s just not the same with a cane. Even the Monster in Young Frankenstein does better than I.

5 things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1. Kindness
2. Intelligence
3. Faith
4. Sense of humor
5. Passion (in every sense of the word)

I stole Julie’s list, here, because it’s the same as mine – although I would add: Olive skin. My hubby fits the bill! :-)

5 things I say most often:

1. “Where to, Buster?”
2. “Freaking….(insert political group, sports team, member of the press or special interest group of your choice – I tend to get fed up with all of them, in turn)!”
3. “God BLESS these people!) (This is usually said between gritted teeth as I drive, accompanied by a toot on the horn and a “wake up!”)
4. “These pretzels are making me thirsty!” (Our family substitutes this for “I am at my wits end”)
5. “STOP taking the name of the Lord in vain, Dammit!”

5 celebrity crushes:

1. Colin Firth. Particularly in any Darcian Incarnation.
2. Derek Jeter
3. Bono (Yeah, I’m surprised, too)
I’m sorry…I really only have three. And even Bono is sort of a stretch.

5 people I want to do this:
I’ll bother Jeanette and Newton