Let's play tag

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California Girl tagged me (and so did another friend I can't for the life of me remember who, can't find a comment, must have deleted an email - rats! tell me who you are please!), and then I think my mom called me in for bed because it got dark, and she'd heard the crickets chirping. Then the next night we played Combat instead, hiding in the shadows of the brick Methodist Church that looked like a Berlin building at night in black and white, and then the next night it was raining. And anyway, I am always the last one It - too slow to catch anyone in the neighborhood.

So, where were we? Oh yes, I'm 52, and we are playing blogger tag - not neighborhood tag. This tag game is to list six unimportant things that make me happy. Well, as one who has a blog called small the point of which is to note small things and their importance, hope you don't mind if I change that to:

6 little (but still important) things
that make me happy on a daily basis
and I don't know why anyone is interested
although I am interested when other people
post them because I can relate to at least some of them

1. the first thing because it's first in the morning is a cup of coffee with vanilla soy cream in this hand thrown mug by an art school classmate of Lesley's. actually i drink 2 cups. the thought of this gets me out of bed.

2. a tree named Cosmo on my drive to work. it's very very big.

3. colorful eggs from the coop. in a few months we'll have some darker brown ones from new layers.

4. photo of an old Chinaman smoking something on the wall by my dressing table.

5. uni-ball pens. every color. shopping for these at Office Max makes me very happy. i usually spend too much $ on them. i like using orange for underlining text that knocks me out.

and 6. Sarah McLachlan singing "Answer."
there are some days on my drive to work i listen to it several times in a row.

So did that interest you? Why? What small things make you happy?

8 random facts/habits

I was tagged by Vicki at Faint Heart Art to post eight random facts or habits about myself. Thanks for tagging me, this was fun to think about! It contains more memories than current habits.

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1. I'm 52, and I have never ridden a horse, which is probably a good thing, if you consider #2.

2. I was run over by a school bus when I was 4. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it's a bit shocking, right? My brother Bennett was driving it around the dirt lot by our church. He was learning to drive, so he practiced in the school bus our church used to pick kids up for Sunday School, and I was playing train conductor, jumping up and down off the steps. Nothing broke. But there were tread marks on my rump. (This is why we have rumps. Why is there no good word for "rump"? Buttocks. Butt. Arse. Back end. Backside. Behind. Bottom. Bum. Derriere. Seat. Hiney. A**. Rear. Fanny. Cheeks. Posterior. Gluteus maximus. Haunches. Hindquarters. I don't like any of 'em. Well, maybe arse is ok. Oh and my sister's word was "buckets.") Bennett and I always loved each other, but after that we were bonded for life, which ended for him in 1996 at age 47.

3. I dressed up as Martha Washington (George's wifee) for Halloween in 4th grade. My sister Nancy (10 years older than I - same sister as per "buckets" in #2) made the entire costume, including white wig with ribbons and black lace gloves, shawl and lace trimmed eye-mask. It was an extraordinary costume, so was I stunned when my teacher Mrs. Woodworth recognized and greeted me "Good morning, Ruthie"!

4. When I am afraid of flying I do a meditation that includes picturing the plane inside me, and I stop feeling afraid.

5. Around the same time as the bus incident in #2, I learned to read on my siblings' laps during daily evening devotions when everyone took turns reading the Bible.

6. When I was 12 Nancy cut my hair like Twiggy's. Wow, I just realized I had my own personal stylist in my sister.

7. When Don and I were first married, and I was a waitress, I waited on John Houseman in little Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, when he was on a book tour. I was the only waitress who knew who he was, which was what the manager guessed and seated him in my section. Was I shocked when I tonged ice cubes into his glass while recognizing that face I loved from the movie "The Paper Chase"! Of course the British actor asked for prime rib, which we had run out of. So I recommended filet mignon. "Fine," he said drolly. "Do you have any English mustuhd?" "But of course!" said I. Only we didn't, and someone had to run to the grocery store for Grey Poupon (there weren't any Rolls Royces around as in the TV ad). Mr. Houseman never smiled once. I would have been disappointed if he had, very disappointed.

8. I dream about babies, a lot.