Thursday, November 30, 2006

Know Your Friends

Hello MarathonMum friends.

I know I've been neglecting this blog, but things have been happeneing here at MarathonMum HQ. I know this post is cheating, but I felt I had to get one post up this month before it concluded.

Imbedded in the answers below is the reason why I haven't posted in such a long time. There's been X-rays and doctors and blood tests and more doctors. So if you're patient and you read through you'll see what I'm talking about. I'll post more about it soon.

1. What is your occupation? Chairman and chief executive officer of our family.

2. What color are your socks right now? light blue (I should note they are about 10 years old)

3. What are you listening to right now? The birds in the backyard.

4. What is the last thing you ate? Does my morning coffee count? With it I had an Italian amaretto biscuit. Yum.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Thanks to Sean Fitzgerald, yes.

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Would depend on the day.

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Kathy Krueger.

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Not really. I'm just sending it back so she thinks I still like her. Did I say that out loud??

9. How old are you today? 38

10. Favorite Drink? Champagne.

11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Hard to say, given the prevalence of snooker and cricket on t.v. here. I really miss the NFL and the NBA though. I guess, thinking it through, college basketball starring the Villanova Wildcats of course.

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? I started going grey at 20. Does that answer your question?

14. Pets? I have two sons. That's more than enough fun for one household.

15. Favorite food? Italian, followed very closely by French, not to mention sushi.

16. What was the last movie you watched? "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Actually, I didn't watch it. Nicholas watched it, and I used the time to have a long chat with my friend Kathy (see above). The movie I actually watched was "Breaking and Entering" starring Jude Law. I'd give it a 7.5/10.

17. Favorite day of the year? Hard to pick.

18. What do you do to vent anger? I used to go out for a long hard run. Now that I can't do that anymore given that I've just been diagnosed with arthritis, I'm going to have to think of something else.

19. What was your favorite toy as a child? My doll "Baby." I was a very literal child.

20. What is your favorite season: Autumn

21. Hugs or kisses? hugs

22. Cherries or Blueberries? Blueberries

23. Do you want your friends to email you back? Absolutely

24. Who is most likely to respond? I'm hoping that my friends lead such a full and rich life they won't have time to respond. I'm just using this questionnaire as a procrastination exercise before I go upstairs to get out our Christmas decorations.

25. Who is least likely to respond? See above.

26. Living arrangements? Living at the fun house (a 200-year old Georgian house) in Greenwich, London, with my husband and two pets-- I mean, sons.

27. When was the last time you cried? On Friday when I found out I probably won't be able to run ever again. Still makes me cry a little, even as I type this.

28. What is on the floor of your closet? The boxes I still haven't unpacked from our move in March.

29. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? Have to be Kathy, though I'm also going to post it on my blog, so it's possible that there's someone out there who's reading it who's known me longer. Say, someone in my family.

30. What did you do last night? After hustling the boys off to bed, I made dinner for me and Tim, and then I rested on the sofa in the hope that the excruciating pain in my foot would go away. It didn't.

31. Favorite smells? Lavender. It's the scent I wear, and when Thing Two was about one year old, he went up to a lavender bush and hugged it. I like to think it reminded him of me.

32. What inspires you? Lots of things, but I always want to make my family proud.

33. What are you afraid of? That I will soon have to install one of those chair elevators in my house because my arthritis will get so bad I won't be able to walk. (That's a joke. Sort of.)

34. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? cheese

35. Favorite dog breed? Golden retrievers. Though, to reiterate, we have no need for dogs because we have boys.

36. Number of keys on your key ring? 2 (I have a separate key ring for the car since we use it so infrequently).

37. How many years at your current job? It's a lifetime appointment.

38. Favorite day of the week? Probably Saturdays, since it's Pizza NIght.

39. How many states have you lived in? You can tell this questionnaire was written by American, because they assume you couldn't possibly have lived in another country. So I will answer the question in my own way: I have lived in five states and two countries. So there.

40. Favorite holiday? Thanksgiving.

41. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? No, though I've ridden on a motorcycle and I helped the boys use a mini JCB at Legoland. Does that count?

42. Who's your favorite NFL team? In the interest of household harmony, it would have to be the Pittsburgh Steelers.

43. Do you have a house phone that is NOT cordless? no

44. 10 inches of snow or 100 degree weather. Given that we don't get either of those things in London, it's hard for me to imagine either possibility. But if pressed, I would have to say 10 inches of snow.