Month: August 2004

A Blue Moon is the 2nd of two consecutive full moons falling in the same month. They are quite rare.

Three years in the 20th Century had two blue moons: 1915, 1961 and 1999 (the year we met). Ever since 1999, we’ve made it our own little “tradition” to celebrate Blue Moons.

The most recent Blue Moon was on July 31, 2004. The next one isn’t until May 31, 2007. And after that: December 31, 2009 …now THAT one should be fun!

Here’s a running list of how we have celebrated each Blue Moon together…

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From “Blue Moons” and Spring Training Baseball to Halloween and Christmas…

We have a few unique traditions of our very own.

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Following are some words of wisdom for all our single friends.

And if you play your cards just right, surely you too will find your own “Mr. January” (or “Ms. January”).

This is all tongue-in-cheek, of course

For What It’s Worth…

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In our opinion, the following things are highly underrated…

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In our opinion, the following things are highly overrated…

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Betchya Didn’t Know…

• Bicycling is my drug of choice.
• Prefer TV to music.
• Florida is my favorite place in the world.
• Not much of a hugger.
• I tend to drive with my shoes off.
• Scrapbooking puts my entire life in perspective and incorporates my favorite pastimes of photography, writing, and organizing.
• Great listener. Horrible rememberer.
• So organized it’s scary! I’m always seeking ways to de-clutter and minimize “stuff” around the house and at work. I’m a purger.
• Each year I really do come up with a New Year’s Resolution & try to stick to it!
• I’ve kept both my toe rings on 24/7 since the day I bought them in 1998 in the Florida Keys.
• Prefer working “behind the scenes”. I don’t mind playing second fiddle to someone else, because I’m more interested in the creative process of getting things done rather than the end result.
• I love being a tourist …even in my own town!
• I was born a Hoosier. Became a Texan. Lived life to the fullest as a Floridian (and married one). Now I’m happy to be a Tennessean living in Music City USA. (Here are all the places I’ve been.)
• Love to be tanned!
• Until recently, my favorite color was white. Because it goes so well with tanned. Lately, my favorite color is black. Because it goes so well with chubby.
• Whenever I have to come to a sudden stop in traffic, I deliberately veer to one side, so it will be obvious to the drivers behind me that something’s up. (This came in handy recently!)
• The only black & white movies I’ll sit through are Shirley Temple movies.
• I keep every box from everything we ever buy or that ever gets shipped to us just in case we ever move again. (Or I want to later sell that item on eBay.)
• I’ve never colored my hair. (Though I should… there are lots of greys in front now. Though they sometimes look blonde.) UPDATE: I now get “highlights” every 4 months – does that count?
• Been known to spend upwards of 8 13 18 hours a day on the computer (..work, fun, and hobbies are all one in the same these days — and they all involve a computer!)
• I majored in “Marriage & Family Counseling” in grad school, but never felt qualified to tell people what they should be doing, feeling, and thinking — have always struggled with the “authority” that counselors assume.
• I love board games, card games, word games and puzzles.
• Don’t like playing computer games. Or video games.
• I’m a dog person. Not a cat person. (…had one once; it insisted on jumping in the shower while I was bathing, and playing in the kitchen sink while I was washing dishes!)
• I’ll e-mail you before I’ll call you.
• Lived in New York for 3 years (waaaayy upstate in Lake Placid… 40 miles from Montreal Canada and Burlington Vermont).
• I’m NOT politically correct (…I’m honest instead.)
• Prefer flip flops & t-shirts to business suits & briefcases when it comes to work attire. Fortunately, that’s what I get to wear to work each day!
• Favorite TV shows are all fact-based — home improvement shows, Lifetime true stories, prefer Reality TV to sitcoms and dramas (…USED to enjoy Tech TV before they switched their focus to gamers!)
• My “15 minutes of fame” happened without me being present. My dad was the big winner on an episode of Hoosier Millionaire (only he didn’t get a million, he got $42,000), and he talked about me, his beloved daughter, “live” on TV.
• “Top salesperson” the summer I sold gold-by-the-inch necklaces & bracelets at Cedar Point Amusement Park.
• I can’t drive a stick shift.
• I love to read magazines that are months old that others have thrown out.
• When I read a newspaper or magazine, it is with scissors in hand — I cut out and save every great idea I come across. (Even in books, I will highlight or transcribe into my computer any of the tips gleaned from within.)
• Don’t like sushi (for the fact that it has no flavor).
• When I worked outside the home, I used to listen to Bob and Tom on my way to work every morning. I was even a VIP member for awhile. All the comedians featured Bob & Tom actually appear here at Zanies in Nashville).
• I love that tired and hungry feeling you get after spending a day at the beach.
• I’ve never been to one of my high school reunions, though I used to plan reunions for a living!
• If it’s not online, I probably haven’t read it… can’t sit still long enough to read much more than the day’s newspaper (even prefer to read that online!) and won’t even touch a book if it’s not purely fact — I don’t do fiction… only non-fiction.
• Never, ever eat Breakfast (but always always eat post-Breakfast, pre-Lunch, post-Lunch, and pre-Dinner).
• I don’t drink coffee. Didn’t have my first sip of coffee until 2004. Still don’t drink coffee. (…can’t get past the smell of it on people’s breath!)
• My only fears are: getting lyme disease (I actually know someone who has it) and brown recluse spiders (they’re everywhere here in Tennessee… and they’re poisonous!) [UPDATE: I have Lyme Disease]
• I have a birthmark on my right cheek (…the lower one).
• Was named after a Mouseketeer, Annette Funicello.
• Usually don’t have any desire to buy any of my favorite singers‘ CDs in record stores, but I’ll be the first in line to buy their Greatest Hits album when it finally hits the streets.
• I’m not a good test taker… on paper. But I can figure out a-million-and-one answers to any question… in real life.
• I failed the GRE (grad school entrance exam) twice before I squeaked by with the EXACT score that my graduate school (Texas Tech) would allow (800).
• Don’t do malls (unless it’s Clinique “bonus-time”). I shop online instead. Okay, and at Kohl’s.
• I’m a neat freak… need to have everything around me “in its place” before I can jump in and begin a project.
• Still get a charge out of the minute detail associated with cross-stitching, but I haven’t done it in awhile since I can’t think of anything FUN to do with the end result.
• I’ve never seen a single episode of The Sopranos.
• I’m a “techie” but not a “trekkie”…Don’t know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek.
• I’d rather be hot than cold – anytime!
• I spent most of my adult life ‘finding my religion’ til I finally found a church for people who’ve given up on church.
• Held a baby orangutan in my arms — when I worked at the ZOO in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
• I like packing for a trip. It’s similar to working a puzzle for me… “What’s the bare minimum I can fit into a very tiny space and not leave out any of the bare necessities?”
• I shop for Christmas gifts year-round, taking advantage of bargain prices and going-out-of-business sales. By November, we’re usually 90% done!
• I don’t “get” Jimmy Buffet and his parrotheads (…but I love the Keys, does that count?)
• Prefer small groups (individual & couples activities) to large groups (where I revert to “people-watching” instead of chattiness and gossip).
• I’m a list-maker, and I take great satisfaction in crossing things off my list. (Secretly wish I had invented Post-Its… cuz they’re just so ME!)
• Don’t like roller coasters. (But not as much as Jim doesn’t like roller coasters.)
• I once biked 300 miles in 3 days for charity.
• Like to cook using SIMPLE recipes (10 ingredients or less), but I don’t like anyone helping me.
• I won’t sing a lick in front of another person (…not even Happy Birthday).
• I was atop the World Trade Center several times prior to September 11th; even hosted a private party there (“Windows on the World”) when I worked for PSC.
• The “return queen” — I buy things with the intention of returning it if I don’t like it later.
• I’m an excellent parallel parker.
• Favorite motto: “Change is good… ALWAYS!”
• Used to live close enough to the Kennedy Space Center that I could watch the shuttles take off & land from my living room window, or drive 35 minutes to the coast and watch it close up!
• Like dry mushrooms on my salad and wet mushrooms on my pizza.
• I was the Grand Prize Winnerin a drawing held at the mall. The prize: an all-expense paid trip for 2 to New York City (including 3 nights in a nice hotel on Times Square, the Broadway play of our choice, roundtrip airfare, and free ground transportation).
• Love fresh orange juice, but only if it’s ice cold.
• Won’t touch a glass of milk.
• I have this uncanny ability to get every repairman that enters our house to open up and spill all the details of his family, kids, and happiness with his current job.
• Most of the sunglasses I own I found (rather than bought) — I have at least 8 pairs at any given time!
• I’ve always been intrigued by dolphins …and whales in the wild (and the skill of their trainers in animal parks), and real estate as a profession.
• I can’t fall asleep in the middle of the day… even when I’m tired. Naps are for old people.
• As a tiny tot, I scarred the back of my leg with a hot iron, cut off one of my two ponytails, swallowed a handful of thumbtacks, walked nose-first into our mailbox while waving goodbye to my parents on the first day of kindergarten, and wrecked my bike on the first day of 2nd grade while riding down the hill in front of our house.
• I used to go to a chiropractor monthly to relieve my neck and shoulder strain — from all the computer work. The lower back adjustments were a bonus.
• Much like my little niece, I don’t close my eyes when the preacher says, “Let us bow our heads and pray.”
• And on a related note… I’m not the type that could be hypnotized either. I’m far too aware of my surroundings at all times, and I like to be in control of my body.
• An excellent researcher.
• Each piece of jewelry I own (except for my wedding ring) cost less than $19.95!
• I was involved in a robbery, with a knife to my back during a hold-up at a convenience store in Lubbock, Texas where I was the only one working that day (PT job during grad school).
• Actually enjoy cleaning up the kitchen & doing the dishes after a meal. But I don’t like anyone else helping me.
• I locked my keys in my car 3 TIMES in one day when a friend and I took a road trip from Orlando, Florida to Helen, Georgia. (Thank goodness for AAA!)
• If something’s usually done one way, I will always try to do it ANOTHER way… just to be different!
• Favorite radio station: “SCAN” (…bits and pieces of random songs).
• I always check the license plate on the car in front of me to see if it’s expired.
• Like hot & spicy foods, especially hot peppers and Thai food.
• I fret over signing greeting cards, taking at least an hour to compose the “perfect” phrasing for the recipient.
• Don’t like bright lights (I’m always dimming the lights at home) or loud noises (too many people talking at once or the TV too loud). I think I’m part Autistic… heck, we all are!
• It takes a lot to “shock” me, or even to keep my attention. I’m not easily in awe of people or things.
• Taught myself about computers, the Internet, website design, and HTML coding before the days when programs like Dreamweaver, FrontPage, and Content Management Software did all the coding for you!
• I (and everyone else who went to IU or grew up in Bloomington, Indiana) still call him John Cougar.
• My m.o. in life is to think outside the box — there is more than one way to do virtually ANYthing.
• Watch a lot of movies, but own less than 10 on DVD.
• Prefer Arby’s french fries, Burger King burgers, McDonald’s fish sandwiches, and Wendy’s salads.
• I ride in the HOV lane alone sometimes… Because my windows are tinted. Especially when it’s raining or snowing. But never on a Friday. And never on the last day of the month. (Pssst!… the fine is only $50 if you’re caught!)
• It drives me crazy when singers on stage have a guitar in hand, but they strum a few chords, then just stop playing it. (Hello Kenny Chesney and Alan Jackson!)
• I love to hear a few key notes on an electric guitar — at “that right spot” in a ballad.
• It might seem morbid, but if I should happen to know that my end is near, I want to spend those final days in a rented beach house and enjoying long drives in the country — like in the movie “Beaches”.

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Betchya Didn’t Know…

• I lived in the same neighborhood as Brian Piccolo in South Florida.
• Have an eye for creative marketing and advertising campaigns.
• Drug of choice: Jeeping!
• Prefer listening to Pandora on my computer rather than watching television.
• Spend most of my time doing PR and marketing for motorsports teams (IHRA and NHRA drag racing).
• A creature of habit – I always stop at the exact same rest stops and gas stations anytime I’m traveling long distances in the car.
• Taught myself about computers and website design.
• Diehard sports fan – NHL hockey (Nashville Predators), NFL football (Miami Dolphins and whatever team Jonathan Quinn is playing for), MLB baseball (Cleveland Indians).
• I’d rather be hot than cold.
• Wannabe youth football coach (or assistant coach)… again. Had to leave the job behind when I moved.
• I was on the staging committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame when I lived near Cleveland, Ohio.
• Horrible speller (“there” and “their”; “your” and “you’re”… who cares?!)
• I was there for Doug Flutie‘s “hail mary pass” – one of the biggest upsets in college football history. It was Boston College vs University of Miami game in the 1984 Orange Bowl.
• Addicted to Quicken and online billpay… I get a charge from watching the little check marks appear on the computer screen when you download the latest transactions and they actually match up with my check register.
• I have the uncanny ability to make conversation with just about anyone!
• I get most of my work done between the hours of 11PM and 3AM.
• When I need a break, I can usually be found playing Pacman or Tetris on the computer (or Chess or Euchre on Pogo).
• Don’t like to have my baked potato sliced into with a knife. Instead, I prefer to “smoosh” it together so it erupts like a little potatoey volcano pile.
• Owned my own printing & publishing company when I was only 24 years old.
• Have nearly 400,000 points from playing NTN Trivia that I don’t know what to do with!
• I never leave the pump unattended when I’m pumping gas. (One time I did, and the nozzle fell out, spewing gasoline everywhere!)
• Favorite TV show: “Bad boyz, bad boyz. Whatchya gonna do?”… COPS!
• In 7th grade I sold newspapers as my first job. I sold them in person and via cold calls on the telephone. No one else my age was doing anything like that. I saved the money I made and bought tickets to a Miami Dolphins game to see AJ Duhe (#77) play. He influenced my decision to be #77 in high school football. Coincidentally, my senior year I worked out at the gym where AJ Duhe also worked out.
• Obsessive about the weather and road conditions, I always make sure I leave at a time that will avoid driving in snow/ice or during rush hour traffic.
• I love my country – I fear my government.
• Prefer landscapes of mountains and valleys rather than oceans and lakes.
• Won’t be caught dead wearing anything “pink”… or anything with stripes. (I just started allowing “orange” to enter into my wardrobe though.)
• I quantify everything – life is one big math equation to me.
• I’ve always wanted a house with a barn… and a streetlight out back.
• I always have to sauce things up: ketchup on my eggs, mayonnaise on my steak, even ketchup on my chicken!
• Enjoy helping others figure out how to do things on their computers.
• I’ve always been intrigued by investing and financial planning.
• Get motion sickness on amusement rides and cruise ships. (In all our cruise and wedding pictures, I’m wearing 1-inch thick gray sweatery wristbands. They did the trick though – I never got sick, while others in our group did!
• If I walk into a music store or video rental store, I’m getting 2… not just one.
• I enjoy riding in those NASCAR simulator race cars — like at Opry Mills Mall.
• A problem-solver by nature, I’m always using deductive reasoning.
• I hit the snooze button on the alarm clock exactly 3 times every morning.
• Born a Floridian. Tried to be a North Carolinian for awhile. Became a Buckeye before I was eventually called to be a Floridian again. Now I’m proud to be a Tennessean living in Franklin, TN.
• I hate doctors. Won’t go to one unless I’m on my death-bed. (Or Lynnette makes the appointment.)
• Enjoy cooking, but don’t do it much anymore since Lynnette took over in the kitchen.
• I was on the Duval County Republican Committee in Jacksonville, Florida.
• My favorite vacations are those which center around Spring Training baseball games each year.
• I’ve never been snow skiing, nor do I have any real desire to.
• As a youngster, I had to have my tongue clipped because I couldn’t breathe right.
• I enjoy jumping in the car Jeep, with a map and a compass, and exploring new roads.
• If someone calls me & doesn’t leave a voicemail message, I have to call them back to see what they wanted or if it was a wrong number.
• Clothes shopping is like pulling teeth for me… Since my brother is a haberdasher, I notice how “cheap” the clothes in stores are …and all the imperfections.
• Thrifty with money… until I start to spend it. Then I spend BIG chunks of change. I won’t nickel & dime you to death, but I’ll put you in the poor house in a hurry!
• I’m non-confrontational.
• Really admire Vince Lombardi and Jerry Kramer — I’d like to learn under him… football and life attitudes.
• I can’t go 24 hours without checking my e-mail or my online banking statement.
• On weekends, showering, shaving (and sometimes even brushing teeth) are optional.
• Talk about embarrassing… On “shoulder pads day” in high school someone pulled my pants down & all I had on was a jock strap!
• The world’s best software program I use every day: Photoshop CS.
• I’m a storm watcher… There’s nothing better than watching a weather storm brewing from your front porch or patio.
• My favorite outfit is a comfy gray hooded sweatshirt that’s 2 sizes too small, and a pair of matching bottoms with holes in the knees. (With the hood cinched real tight around my face, I look like Rocky.)
• You know you’re a grown-up when… you worry about how much money you spend at a bar!
• If doing it once every 3 years constitutes that you’re a golfer, then I’m a golfer.
• Would like to go to a taping of Saturday Night Live.
• I get a rush from the nitrous oxide fumes at every drag-racing event I go to.
• Favorite food: my mom’s potato salad.
• Least favorite food: my mom’s potato soup.
• Early fall is my favorite time of year because it reminds me of Homecoming and the start of football season — a time to let loose and have fun.
• Love that “crazy bird”… Wild Turkey & (diet) coke. Gobble, gobble!
• Biggest regret: turning down that Vanderbilt football scholarship because it was “too far from home.”
• My favorite magazines are PC Magazine, Inc., and Sports Illustrated.
• Prefer to have a house with a porch, preferably a wrap-around porch.
• I won’t put your phone number in the phonebook on my cell phone unless I talk to you more than 5 times a month and for more than 2 months in a row.
• I can survive just fine on 4 hours of sleep a night.
• No kids… yet. Though it’s not for lack of trying!
• I know that’s not 100… I’m workin’ on it!

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Jim and I don’t “do” cards and gifts for each other. Instead of buying Birthday or Christmas (or Valentine’s or any other) holiday present on a particular day, we tend to buy items that we would both enjoy — and something that we’ll continue to enjoy throughout the year. Usually, it’s an item for the house!

So we buy “gifts” — things that we want and need — as we go along, rather than waiting for a special day to arrive. Because, to us, every day is a special day… is it not?

Here are some of the gifts we’ve given each other:

We actually keep a running list of “things to buy when they go on sale”. Following are some of the things we’re currently saving up for (or hope to find on sale soon)…

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