My Wednesday Edition of Monday Mission

As usual I was running around with hubby on his days off, so my Monday is a few days late. So what's new, right?

PromoGuy's Monday Mission 2.42...

1. Have you ever felt like you were expected to set a good example for others?
Oh, absolutely. I've rebelled against that feeling periodically throughout my life, but I've always headed back. I think the biggest thing I want people to remember about my example is this: I WILL mess up, you can count on that, but I will also own up to it and do better next time.

2. What keeps you on the right path? For example, why do you think you turned out the way you did as opposed to the nut ball sniper out there?
What keeps me on the right path is my relationship with God and my relationships with people who encourage me and challenge me to be a better person. The people you surround yourself with will influence you for the better or for the worse, there's just no way around that. God continues to help me work through pain and anger in my life. I used to be a very, very angry person. I learned early in life that it was easier to feel angry and lash out than it was to allow myself to feel hurt and sad. But through getting to know God, I've also learned that there's an alternative to being angry all the time.

3. Sometimes things seem different than they really are. When was the last time you believed something to be one way only to learn you had it all wrong?
There's so many things in life that prove themselves in this way. I think a biggie for me was my father. After my mom and I moved to Ohio and I only heard from him sporadically, it was easy for me to romanticize him and forget how awful with him life really is. I'd go back to visit him with the hopes that things would be different, and when they weren't, I was so disappointed. Even as an adult, when he got back in contact with me, I thought it might be a chance for us to foster a new relationship, but I learned very quickly (not quickly enough, still) that he was the same user he had always been and that it wasn't going to happen.

4. Can you recall a time when being alert and observant kept you safe?
It's easier for me to recall times when being unobservant resulted in my being harmed, LOL. I am rather klutzy. On a more mental and emotional level, I think I've learned to observe people more closely and to avoid spending time with those who just don't feel quite right to me inside. It may not be that the people pose a physical threat to me or my loved ones, but they may be people who will drain me dry emotionally or keep me in some weird type of controlling relationship. I've been there and done that, and I don't want to go back.

5. Who in your personal circle of relationships do you think is smarter than you? Are they smarter in just one area, or overall? How do you feel about that? How do they interact with you?
People with financial saavy really blow me away. We have friends who are such good planners, investing and making their money grow. My husband and I both struggle to be diligent about saving and planning for our futures; to think some of our peers have thousands of dollars set aside for retirement or their kids' college funds -- and have for years, too -- just blows me away. I can't imagine begin that foreward-thinking; I am such a creature of the moment.

6. Let's daydream a little: Describe in detail the most perfect lazy day, start to finish.
A lazy day would need to be one spent away from home so I wouldn't look around me and see all the things that need to be done. So let's set it at a cabin in the woods somewhere. The weather's quite cool, and it's fall. We went to bed early the night before; the early sunsets have us feeling sleepy earlier than usual. This morning, we've awakened to the sound of birds chattering and the light pattering of rain on the leaves outside and the roof above our heads.

We stretch and sigh heavily, smelling the fresh rain-scented air. Donning our flannel snugglies and slippers, we make a fire in the fireplace and sit looking out the window as we drink our morning coffee. We read a little. The rain stops and the sun starts peeking out from behind the clouds. Getting dressed, we head out for a walk down to the lake and take a rowboat out onto the water so we can fish for a while. The hot coffee from our thermos feels really good going down.

After a few hours, we beach the boat and go back up to the cabin for lunch. A nap overtakes us and we succumb to its wiles, snuggling together beneath the thick comforter. When we awake, Howie feels like reading, but I want to take pictures; I leave him with Lord of the Rings while I wander around the trails and enjoy that sense of really seeing everything for the first time again. In no time, dusk is settling in and I can't believe how quickly the time's passed since I left the cabin. That sense of timelessness permeates days like this, especially when I am behind my camera.

In the evening, we enjoy a homemade stew and bread, then sit and play Scrabble before a roaring fire. The radio is on, playing some light jazz, and the woodsmoke smells good. The fire begins to die back and my eyelids grow heavy; that thick comforter is looking pretty inviting...

7. Are you dressing up for Halloween? If so, what as? If not, how come? What is the most favorite costume you ever had?
No, this year I have no plans. I may have to dress Howie up and send him out the door to his job, though. When I was little, my mom sewed me a leopard costume. I remember really liking that a lot, and I remember being annoyed because kids were pulling on the tail. As an adult, my favorite costume was one I came up with in 1999: The Bad Hair Day Fairy.


BONUS: Come on baby tell me what’s the word?

Grease is the word
(Grease is the word, is the word that you heard)
It's got groove, it's got meaning
Grease is the time, is the place, is the m-o-otion
Grease is the way we are feeling...

Okay, not what Promoguy was lookin' for, but that's what popped into my head, and that's what you get. Sorry, Cameo. Word.

Today's Comment Question: What gives you the creeps?
Oh, that's easy. Centipedes, especially those with the long legs. You know, the ones which seem to hover over the ground as they glide along on all those legs. I think they're cool in their own way, but if one gets on me, I get a little....Twitchy. We rented the lower in an old house a few years back; the house was old, and the basement was damp. So, it was just a lovely home for centipedes and other moisture-craving critters. Normally, you just see them when you descend into the bowels of your house to do laundry. But because the dining room was so neat in this place, we chose to put our bedroom in the finished room down in the basement instead of having it upstairs. Oooooh, I will NEVER forget the night we were lying in bed reading and I felt something plunk down on me from somewhere. It was one of those huge long-legged, creepy centipedes! It skittled down my body until I knocked it off of me (screaming bloody murder the whole time, of course). It disappeared under the bed and we never did find it. *Shudder* Yuck!