Two Things: A Meme from my Daughter with Extra Thought

Before I begin ... let me just say ... WTF???  Type pad has abruptly and totally changed the page I use to write my blog entries.  This may be fine... it may even be a good thing... I can't tell yet.  But when you encounter it before your first cup of coffee has made it into your system, it's Not Good.  They hid things -- like categories, and changing things from draft to published.  (They also made linking look more like WordPress).  So... if my links are weird, or something else bizarre happens this week... it's Type Pad's fault!

So, where was I?  Oh yeah, that Meme thing from my daughter that Type Pad ate once already.

The meme thingy.

Question 1:  Two names you go by: 
    My daughter listed two, neither of which I've heard, and one of which is "Giggles".  Now, we do have nicknames for her, and I suppose I get that you don't share your "family" nickname with the rest of the world.  But Giggles????
    My answer, on the other hand, was not as fun.  If you don't count the screen names I use (like, say ShadowDancer), all I have are my given name and                   "Mummy" (I prefer the British spelling and pronounciation, but really, I get called Mo-om all the time).  I've never really had a nick name.  There are times when that has made me sad.

Question 2:  Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
    Why do they always have these?  What does that say about you?? For me, since I have to admit to my Fleece Bathrobe, and my incredibly comfy yummy Malabrigo Loafer slippers (knit for my by the Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth, whom I thank for them at least weekly), it just means that I answered the meme/email thing first thing in the morning, before showering and dressing for the day.  I suppose I could say "my timex watch and a pair of small stud earrings" since that's true any time I'm not actually IN the shower (or other form of water). 

Question 3: Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
    This is the one I found most revealing to me about myself.  It is, in fact, why I'm subjecting you to the rest of it.

      My duaghter responded that she wants "a cel [sic] phone and fabulous grades." 

    I can't seem to answer the question.  Sure, there are plenty of things I want.  But there aren't very many things I want VERY BADLY.  And those that I do, aren't really things... they're more... states of being for myself or others.... conditions in the universe, or at least on the planet... or perhaps in the country in which I live. 

    I want to be debt free (ya know, have the cars and house fully paid off). Hell, I want my community, and my State, and my NATION to be debt free.  I want my daughters' school system to be better.  I want my house to be energy efficient.  I want my whole community to be energy efficient.   I want the people who run the major industries in this country to be accountable for what they do.  I want to be able to live closer to my parents -- and yet, I want to live closer to my West Coast friends.  This would require a space-time-continuum warp of amazing proportions, so that the East Coast and the West Coast would both be close to me.

    But those aren't things, are they.  I want to have a subscription to the (now closed or I'd link) Shakespeare Shawl club for next year -- but I don't want it "really badly".  By "really badly,"  I guess I mean something you'd be willing to give up something to get.  And not just giving up, say, ice cream for dessert once a week, but something important to you.

    What two things do you want really badly?  I'll try to come up with a real answer too.

Question 4:  Two People Who Will Fill This Out (And The First To Send It Back)
         Why do the email versions of memes always have this question? I mean seriously??

Question 5: Two things You Did Last Night:

    My daughter reported that she watched me play Sim Castaway 2 on the wii until midnight and did homework.  Now for the record, a) she did homework FIRST.  And b), I did not either play til midnight.  Nor did I let her stay up that late.  I mean please, she's only 11!!!  And is it my fault that I like to test the games the girls check out of the library before they play them?  Midnight, indeed.  Hmph.

    I report something different, because I'm doing this on a different day.  I did urge DD#1 to do homework.  Lots of it... because she keeps "forgetting" to do and/or turn things in, or failing to actually FINISH it before she turns it in.  Sigh.  Otherwise, I enjoyed Knit Night in my sparkling clean living room.  (I cleaned it to within an inch of its life last Friday so that when DH's friends came to meet me for the first time and stay with us, they wouldn't find a disaster area.    I'm forcing the family to keep it shiny clean because this evening my parents come in, and this weekend we're having a big birthday party for DH (who turns 60!!).  so.. I knit.

Question 6:  Two Things You Ate Yesterday:
    Again, because of the different reporting days, our answers are different.  She said "pasta and sweet sausage!!!!:)"  I say, chicken and French Onion soup.

Question 7: Two People You Last Talked To:
    My duaghter reported == her sister and "my mom."  I find it amusing that my repsonse includes her... and my DH.  We're all in the family with the talking around here.  Timing is everything.

Question 8:  Two Things you're Doing Tomorrow
    She reports that she'll be taking benchmark tests at school, and that she'll be talking to a friend while writing a novel.  And she will be too... she really does write a lot.  I hope that she keeps up with this novel, because she writes well enough that I believe it could be publishable material.  How cool is that.
    I will be fixing Thanksgiving dinner and hugging my mom.  What's that you say?  American Thanksgiving isn't for a week yet?  Well, so...  Who says? 

    Yes, we've been sort of following along for quite a few years with a specific date (or at least a specific Thursday) for it. even though George Washington set one at the end of Novmeber in 1789, it continued to move, skipping years and settling in various months, with some states having annual ones, other states having none.. and no consistency at all to the day 1863, when President Lincoln again set the date as the last Thursday in November, and his successors followed.  Things went on in that vein for a while, until Franklin D. Roosevelt switched it to the fourth Thursday in a year in which there were five Thursdays.  It wasn't until 1941 that the date of Thanksgiving became a Federal Law (instead of an annual sort of presidential proclamation.

    But we've been having Thanksgiving ceremonies in the part of the world we now call the United States since September 8, 1565.  Or maybe it was on April 30, 1598.  Depends on who you ask.  Once we started being a colonies... they held Thanksgiving on December 4 for a few years until the particular colony that started that one got massacered.  Thanksgiving has been held on designated days in June, in December... all over the calender, sometimes several times a year.  The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the Continental Congress in 1777, and it designated Thursday, December 18th of that year as a National day of Thanksgiving.    etc. etc.  *

So, 543 years of Thanksgivings, and only the past 67 if them have had the official fourth Thursday rule.  Well, I guess I'm just a throwback to older times, because we're going to give thanks with our family, when we can have our family here.  so there.

Of course, we're going to have Second Thanksgiving with friends next Friday too..  I'll have to spend a LOT of time with our Wii Fit for the next two weeks. 

Now, where was I? 
Oh yes, Question 9:   Favorite Holiday (oddly, this doesn't say favorite TWO which it seems to me it ought to do, what with this being a two things list).
    My daughter, the candy-hound, declared Halloween to be her favorite.

     I guess I have to say Solstice.. because it always brings gatherings of friends and family at my house.  And I like the transition moments in the universe.  This can count as two, because there are two a year.  And I don't care if they're not "official holidays".  I mean, if I had to choose "official" holidays, I'd go for something like the International Talk Like A Pirate Day or maybe National Hugging Day.

Question 10: Favorite Vacations
    She chose -- St. Thomas (our most recent) and the summer trip to Maine (and New Brunswick, and Vermont, and New York and.....)
    I chose -- our trip to  Belize a few years ago and the annual Summer Trip.  But what if they meant what TYPE of vacations?  Ski vacations? Beach vacations??  My favorites include knitting... what else?

And finally, Question 11: Favorite Beverages:
    She chose Mountain Dew (huh?  I don't ever give her Dew... it's got 8 gazillion grams of sugar and a ton of caffeine.  I'm not that stupid...) and the mochas that her sister makes using decaff instant coffee from General Mills International Coffees and Nestle instant hot cocoa mix.
    I froze up.  Ran through a gazillion options (hot things, cold things, refreshing things, wines, booze, fancy schmancy mixed drinks).  I was reminded of the drink we saw on the menu in St. Thomas -- it as $100.00!!! It had real silver flake in it, and came with a sapphire in the bottom of the glass.  But I contemplated, and decided that my favorite ought to be defined by what I choose to drink most:  Fresh cold water, and then, a toss up between diet coke and a perfect Latte.

*  all of these lovely dates and historical allegations were taken from Wikipedia.

Comments

[Carrie K]

Oh geez, isn't one day for Thanksgiving enough? I hate the holidays. But interesting data! I had no idea. Shouldn't be surprised, all the other holidays were banged around too.

Coffee and eggnog. Yum.

[Bev]

Just love the way your mind wanders and your brain interrupts itself for the input of facts and data.
My favorite holidays are Yule and Samhain. On Samhain we always set a place at the table for our ancestors and tell of memories we have of those that have passed. It is fun. We have been doing this for about 14 years now. This tradition stuck tight! For Yule, we each get a small gift and then go drive around looking at the decorations, ending up somewhere for hot chocolate and laughter.
Those 2 holidays seem to bring light into the darkness that is a winter day.