Aunt Becky's Annual Meme

Thought I would add myself to the meme club...let's see how it goes...

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?
Drove to Lake Tahoe...what a fun adventure that turned out to be!

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I think it was to be more flexible and fitter...I am probably the same but I should get points for at least not being less flexible or less fit, right?

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
According to Facebook, several of my friends did...but no one close, close to me...LOL

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Fortunately, this was not a year for loss...whew!!

5. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
Floors would be cool...oh and a job!!

6. What countries did you visit?
Didn't leave the country this year, sadly...

7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why:
June 29. First time ever pulling a trailer...complete success!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Meeting my 40 books read goal and moving day...LOL

9. What was your biggest failure?
Still being unemployed???

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had a nasty chest cold that turned into bronchitus (my first time), that I would love to never repeat.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Makita cordless drill....love that thing!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My cousin Mynde who is fighting breast cancer with the most strength, poise and grace of anyone I have ever seen.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Pretty much the entire political engine...I couldn't wait for it to be over.

14. Where did most of your money go?
HOME IMPROVEMENT!! LOL

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Bunco!

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
PSY – Gangnam Style

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?  About the same...
ii. thinner or fatter? About the same
iii. richer or poorer?  Definitely poorer...haha

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Anything fitness related...I was a slacker for most of the second half of the year...

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Muttering under my breath at stupid former renters and property management

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With lots of family

21. There was no #21. I don’t know why there was no 21.

22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
Nope, already there

23. How many one-night stands?
None

24. What was your favorite TV program?
Grimm

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope.

26. What was the best book you read?
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
My Ipod broadcaster so I can listen to something other than the radio...

28. What did you want and get?
Didn't know I wanted them, but got a fantastic scarf from a friend, and a terrific golf club from Gpa.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Help

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Turned 43, and spent the day alone, watching movies, and playing games...nothing too exciting.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Hearing from a long lost friend.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Stripey socks rule!!

34. What kept you sane?
Jocelyn and exercise!

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The War on Women

37. Who did you miss?
The boy

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Shirley

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
It is possible to eat too much chocolate.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Work is never done...if it isn't part of a song, it should be...LOL
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Last Year on In My Words...A Year In Review

A Year In Review

First sentence of first post from each month....in some cases, this is going to be an image for me because I think some posts don't have sentences of worth...(they just describe what I did to the images for the project).

Day 23: Something You Wish You Had Done in Your Life

Here we go again....another one that sounds like my life is already over....

I don't know, even at my age, I don't feel like there are too many doors closed to me and those that might be closed aren't necessarily things I regret not having done.

One thing I haven't done for one reason or another that I think I would like to do is be a parent. I don't necessarily want to have my own kids but I think I would be a good mom and I wouldn't mind adopting a kid (even an older one) at some point in the future. Thing is, this is not something that is out of my grasp so I don't know if it fits this question really.

Another thing I want to do that I haven't done as an adult is be a dog owner. I don't know when or if I will do this one any time soon but once again, not a closed door, and I think it would be great to have a dog.

One thing I do wish I had done in my life that is definitely not an option anymore is getting to know the smart, creative, and interesting side of my biological father. He is deceased now but he made some bad choices in life, and this limited the amount that we got to know each other. I don't in any way feel that it is my fault that we didn't get to know each other better, but I still wish we had sometimes. I am sure there are things about myself that I would have learned from knowing him better.

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Back At It

Day 22: Something You Wish You Hadn't Done in Your Life

This is a hard one for me. I don't have a lot of regrets and this question sounds like your life is over which mine is not but I'll see what I can come up with.

The two biggest bad things in my life were not my fault and by saying I wish I hadn't put myself in the situation seems to put blame on me, which I refuse to do. The two men involved in those two instances were completely at fault.

One thing recently I wish I hadn't done would be not taking the stresses and worries of another person more seriously. I think things would be a lot easier for me if I had been paying a bit more attention to the situation at hand. I owe a huge apology for that.

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...I Got Lucky

Day 21: Your Best Friend is in a Car Accident and You Have Been in a Fight Just Before, What Do You Do?

This seems like a very strange question to me but here goes...

I am assuming that my best friend is not dead, therefore, I would go see them at the hospital. I try to make sure that those I love know I love them, even if we are disagreeing about something so that I never have to regret if something happens to one of us. I have always made sure to tell my husband that I love him and ask him to be careful when we part so that I know in my heart that he knows how much I care about him. I always tell my family and friends that I love them each time we talk or write because I know that our future's are not decided and life is short and unpredictable.

I don't want to live with regrets that I could have avoided by stating three little words of love...

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Countertops

Day 20: Your Views on Drugs and Alcohol

Once again, moderation, moderation, moderation people.

I have never used any illegal drugs but I don't feel it is my place to judge those that do either. I think that people need to be responsible for the choices they make and in knowing that, use drugs, if they chose to, responsibly.

Having had alcoholism very close to me growing up, I have always had a bit of a fear of it, and I think that has caused me to always err on the side of caution when it comes to alcohol. I do drink occasionally but when I do, it is never very much. I just don't get a level of "fun" from it that warrants feeling really crappy the next day or doing something I would later regret while under the influence.

One thing I don't excuse is those that put other people's lives in danger while using either of the above. I think that if you are going to make the choice to use drugs and/or alcohol, you should be the only that has to deal with the consequences of that choice, not some innocent bystander on the road, or an innocent child that is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, we know that this is almost never the case when abuse of the above two is involved...which is why my opening lines were moderation, moderation, moderation...

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Last Year on In My Words...My Christmas

Day 19: What You Think of Religion and/or Politics

For both....moderation is key!!!

Religion: I think that if being in a religion causes a person to be a better person, lead a better life, and makes them feel better about life after death, then go for it. I think that if being in a religion causes a person to judge others, force their beliefs on others, and/or kill others in the name of religion, then it should be definitely rethought.

Politics: Politics need to be about making the world a better place for everyone, not just for those that have money, means or both. Politicians should be individuals that are looking to make a difference in the lives of those they represent and definitely not people just looking to take advantage of a position and a system.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...What To Do

Day 18: Your Views on Gay Marriage

Absolutely for it...enough said.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Chase's Catnip Christmas

Day 17: A Book That You Have Read That Has Changed Your Views on Something

This one is easy for me. There are two books.

The first one is the Color Purple. I read this book for the first time when I was in high school and in it, two of the characters have a discussion about God that I thought was awesome. It made sense to me. I was pretty excited about reading it enough that I actually told my boyfriend at the time all about it. The rest of the book is great and I love the movie too but the discussion about God was the part that really connected with me at the time.

The second book is called Ishmael and my dad turned me on to this one. This book is amazing and completely changed the way I think about everything in life and how I interact with this planet we live on. It explained so many things.

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Geocaching Peeve

Day 16: Something You Can Definitely Live Without.

I could live without inconsiderate people.
I could live without child abusers/molesters.
I could live without racism and bigotry.
I could live without war.
I could live without cruelty to animals.
I could live without selfishness and greed.
I could live without prejudice.
I could live without heartbreak.

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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Bathroom Kitty

Day 15: Something You Can't Live Without Because You Have Tried to Live Without It

Okay for me this one is in two parts...emotionally and physically (and this is excluding food, water and sleep, which we all need to survive).

Emotionally, I can't live without the love of my husband, family, and friends. Without love, anyone's life is just an empty shell. I truly believe that the only thing that matters at the end of your life, is who you have loved and who loves you.

Physically, I can't live without (meaning I could if I had to, but really wouldn't want to) books, and writing materials...with those two things, I could stay busy and keep my mind fresh for all time.

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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Locked Out

Day 14: A Hero That Has Let You Down

This is a weird one...don't know really what to put here. Don't know that I have ever labeled anyone specifically as a hero...there are people I admire and there are those that have disappointed me but no one like a Superman or Woman in my life that would have let me down.

I think we all make choices and have to live with the consequences of those choices...some are good and some are bad. For instance, my biological father hurt me in a couple of ways, but when I was old enough to really look at the situation, I realized that it had nothing to do with me, he was just making bad choices and the consequences ended up being that we didn't have a close relationship. I never considered him a hero necessarily but when you are a kid all "grownups" are larger than life and it is hard for them to live up to that over time.

We all find disappointment in those around us that we consider friends, or family. Accepting a person's faults and either deciding we can live with them or not is the choice that we then get to make.

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Busy

Day 13: A Band or Artist That Has Gotten You Through Some Bad Ass Days

Well, I guess this would depend on the days....in high school, I think Journey, Depeche Mode, and old school Prince would have been on my list that has gotten me through (not exclusively but I do remember listening to them when I was going through tough high school drama).

Then in college, it would be Sinead O'Connor, James Brown, and EnVogue, that helped me through stressful days, lonely times, or being homesick. Oh, and I remember one particular drive to clear my head that required some James Taylor and UB40 (how is that for a mix?)...

Over the years since college, I have had some Sarah McLachlan, Anna Nalick, Norah Jones when I need to sing the blues away, then some Green Day, Violent Femmes, and Beastie Boys if I need to get going, and finally some CCR, Beatles, and Allman Brothers if I want a walk down childhood memory lane. Can't forget some Disturbed and Papa Roach when I want to get pumped at the gym...

You know, obviously, there is no way to answer this one with just one artist or band...I don't think I have had the bad times that this question is referring too yet, and I love so many different artists and listen to them all for different reasons...so this is really just a broad brushstroke of the things I have listened to over the years....definitely not inclusive off all my tastes musically....since we didn't even touch on Classical and Scores that get me going for school or morning wakeups...

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Beautiful Moon

BBC Book List 2010

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag to me and others.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22- Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath- Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina –Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Willaim Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martell
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love in the time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On the Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson
74 Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - Charles Mitchell
83 The Colour Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Looks like I have read 53 of them so far....but really that is only half. Guess I better update that reading list at the library. Thank goodness for AP English in highschool or I wouldn't have half of what I do on here...haha

Day 12: Something You Never Get Compliments On

Wow, this one is hard...this means that I have to think of something that I like about myself that no one else notices....hmmmm.

Okay, I have thought of it....my feet. I really like my feet and no one else really seems to notice them...haha. The only thing anyone really notices is that I look like I am standing on my toes when my feet are relaxed due to the high arch I have...other than that...no admirers...

Everything else I like about myself has had at least one compliment so I can't say "never"...heehee.

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Five Years Ago on In My Words...In A Pinch

Day 11: Something People Seem to Compliment You the Most On

This one is two fold....physically, I think it would have to be my curly hair and my eyes...at least those two are the ones I hear the most about. Amazingly enough, they are both things I like about myself physically too so it works out...haha.

On the nonphysical front, I think I get complimented on my knowledge of various things. I don't know everything obviously, but of the things I am interested in, I try to be as thorough in my knowledge as possible. I know a lot about computers, for instance, and that is probably the one thing that comes up the most...and I love being able to use what I know to help others so it is a benefit for both them and me.

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...She's Off

Day 10: Someone You Need To Let Go Of or Wish You Didn't Know

I don't think this one is an issue for me. I am pretty good at letting go of dead weight.

I realized a long time ago that who you choose to have in your life affects who you are and what you are able to accomplish. I tend to cut loose those that have TOO much drama, are not honest, or are TOO negative...I just don't need those kind of people in my life.

High school is over and I can't stand to be surrounded by high school antics in people that should have outgrown that activity years ago.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Blanket Woes

Day 9: Someone You Didn't Want To Let Go Of But Just Drifted Away From

This is an interesting one. I have always had a hang up about drifting away from people and a lot of guilt when it does happen. Reality is that there are only a few people in anyone's life that remain a part of it for the length of it. Generally this is family (but not in all cases) and the closest of friends.

I have been very lucky to have some very good friends in my life that have filled the "family" requirement for me when my family has been far away (distance-wise). Those friends will be my friends forever even if we don't talk for ages. I know that they feel the same way about me.

I do have a couple of close friends that I had in high school, that I desperately tried to stay connected with after we all went our separate ways and I have managed to really only stay in contact with one of them. We will continue to be friends until the end of time even though we rarely get to see each other. I felt a lot a guilt when I felt the others slipping away but this is mostly because I assumed it was all my fault. Truth is that it takes two to maintain a relationship and all the effort can't be on one side. So while some of the fault is mine, not all of it is.

The same thing happened in college. I really only have one or two people that am close to from my undergraduate years even though I had a lot of friends, teammates, and sorority sisters at the time. As our lives went in different directions, we drifted apart and other people came into our lives. This is normal...and I have learned to not put so much on myself about this anymore.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Walmart Tramplers

Day 8: Someone Who Made Your Life Hell or Treated You Like Shit

This is a hard one as I don't think that anyone completely fits this bill....I mean we all had relationships in school that did or didn't turn out for one reason or another, but none of mine were so bad that I would label them as the above.

I guess I feel some resentment towards my biological father for some of the things he put me through...but he is no longer living and I really can't speak badly of him now. He made some really bad choices in his life, and unfortunately, I was affected by some of them, but in the end, his life was shortened because of some of those choices so I don't know that anything I would say would make a difference in that outcome. I wish sometimes that I had been able to get to know the amazing part of him better, but he kept that part of himself hidden behind the bad choices most of the time, and that seems sadder than anything else.

Overall, I have had a pretty good life, hard sometimes (like everyone) but still pretty good without a lot of tragedy in it. I am one of the lucky ones.

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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Playstation Mayhem

Day 7: Someone Who Has Made Your Life Worth Living For

This one is easy....everyone in my family...my husband, my sisters, my brothers, my moms and dads, my grandparents, all the aunts and uncles, cousins and friends that have been family for me for so long...I don't know what I would do without you!!!

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Caching It High