I.) Name 6 habits that annoy you in others:

1.  Deceit

2.   Disloyalty

3.  Unkindness

4.  Incompetence

5.  Excessive foul language

6.  Lack of integrity

II.) Name 6 places you dream of vacationing:

1.   Italy

2.  Ireland

3.  Scotland

4.  Chile

5.  Germany

6.  Alaska

III.) Name 6 favorite past times:

1.   Photography

2.   Planning trips

3.  Deviating from the trip itinerary

4.  Going to the beach in wintertime

5.  Reading

6.  Artistic/Creative endeavors

IV.) Name 6 things you would like to accomplish by next year:

1.  Prioritize my time better to spend more of it with AJ and Jami

2.    Accomplish our homeschool goals, enjoying the trip as we go

3.   Get caught up on my scrapbooks

4.   Replace the windows and siding on the house

5.   Convert the front sitting room to feature a master bedroom closet on the front side and a built in computer center on the hallway side of the yet to be built wall

6.  Learn to play the piano (I started lessons last week!)

V.) Name 6 things people would be surprised to know about you:

1.   I regret not having another child.

2.  I struggle with anger that sometimes borders on rage (my family knows this, but I don’t think my friends do.)

3.   The reasons for this are, to some degree, a mystery to me and yet there are some things I can see from which it stems.

4.  I really resented having to move back to Texas when I was in high school and spent a good part of the next year depressed over leaving St. Croix (this is surprising considering how much I love Texas)

5.   I’d really like to perform onstage someday, if I could get past the overwhelming stage fright.  Until then I’ll live vicariously through my husband’s and daughter’s theatrical endeavors.

6.   Getting older really bothers me.  Time passes faster and faster the busier we get and I want to hit the brakes, to freeze time, so I can enjoy the here and now.  I’m going to wake up one day and look back – and I’m worried that I won’t be able to say, “That was a good ride, man.”

 

VI.) Name 6 songs that identify your personality:

1.    “Red Barchetta” – Rush

2.   “Come Monday” – Jimmy Buffett

3.  “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) – James Taylor

4. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” – Billy Joel

5.  “The Long Run” – The Eagles

6. “The Very Thought of You” – Nat King Cole (My husband sings this so beautifully – it’s our daughter’s favorite “lullaby”)

VII.) Name 6 People you will never forget:

1.  AJ, my husband and the first love of my life

2.  Jami, my daughter and the second love of my life

3.  Angie, my sister and best friend

4.  Renae, my childhood friend

5.  Richard Collings – my European History teacher in high school

6. Gilbert Benton – my creative writing teacher in college  

VIII.) NAME 6 PEOPLE I AM TAGGING:

1. Chasing Dani

2. Miss O’Hara

3. Darkstar218

4. Pottermom

5. Lori Logic

6. FKIProfessor

 

Don’t ask me why everything is in 6’s, but there are 8 sections . . . I don’t know! 

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Here are explanations (and parts of the lyrics) for the songs I listed:

1. “Red Barchetta”

I love classic, fast cars.  The idea of racing along a country road in a convertible is thrilling

“My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about.
He says it used to be a farm,
Before the Motor Law.
And on Sundays I elude the Eyes,
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire,
Where my white-haired uncle waits.

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the Borderline.
Run like the wind,
As excitement shivers up and down my spine.
Down in his barn,
My uncle preserved for me an old machine,
For fifty-odd years.
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream.

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car.
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better, vanished time.
I fire up the willing engine,
Responding with a roar.
Tires spitting gravel,
I commit my weekly crime…

Wind-
In my hair-
Shifting and drifting-
Mechanical music-
Adrenalin surge…

Well-weathered leather,
Hot metal and oil,
The scented country air.
Sunlight on chrome,
The blur of the landscape,
Every nerve aware.

Suddenly ahead of me,
Across the mountainside,
A gleaming alloy air-car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide.
I spin around with shrieking tires,
To run the deadly race,
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase.

Drive like the wind,
Straining the limits of machine and man.
Laughing out loud
With fear and hope, I’ve got a desperate plan.
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside.
Race back to the farm, to dream with my uncle at the fireside.”

2.   “Come Monday” – Jimmy Buffett

Simply a beautiful song — can’t hear it too many times.

“Headin’ up to San Francisco
for the Labor Day weekend show,
I’ve got my hush-puppies on,
I guess I never was meant for
glitter rock and roll.
And honey I didn’t know
that I’d be missin’ you so.

[Chorus:]
Come Monday It’ll be all right,
Come Monday I’ll be holding you tight.
I spent four lonely days in a brown L.A. haze
and I just want you back by my side.

Yes it’s been quite a summer,
rent-a-cars and west bound trains.
And now you’re off on vacation,
somethin’ you tried to explain.
And darlin’ I love you so that’s
the reason I just let you go.

[Chorus]

I can’t help it honey,
you’re that much a part of me now.
Remember the night in Montana when
we said there’d be no room for doubt.

I hope you’re enjoyin’ the scenery,
I know that it’s pretty up there.
We can go hikin on Tuesday,
with you I’d walk anywhere.
California has worn me quite thin,
I just can’t wait to see you again.”

3.  “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) – James Taylor

My guy makes me laugh and pulls me from my melancholy self, that’s why he’s better for me than anyone else.

How sweet it is to be loved by you. How sweet it is to be loved by you.

I needed the shelter of someone’s arms and there you were.
I needed someone to understand my ups and downs and there you were.
With sweet love and devotion, deeply touching my emotion,
I want to stop and thank you baby. I want to stop and thank you baby.
How sweet it is to be loved by you. How sweet it is to be loved by you.

I close my eyes at night wondering where would I be without you in my life.
Everything I did was just a bore, everywhere I went it seems I’d been there before.
But you brighten up for me all of my days with a love so sweet in so many ways,
I want to stop and thank you baby, I just want to stop and thank you baby.
How sweet it is to be loved by you, feels so fine. How sweet it is to be loved by you.

You were better for me than I was for myself,
for me, there’s you and there ain’t nobody else,
I want to stop and thank you baby. I just want to stop and thank you baby, yes I do,
how sweet it is to be loved by you. How sweet it is to be loved by you.
Feels so fine, how sweet it is to be loved by you.
Just like jelly baby, oh yeah, how sweet it is to be loved by you.
Just like honey to the bee, babe, how sweet it is to be loved by you

 

4. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” – Billy Joel

This song encourages me to keep perspective – what’s the price of “success”?

“Sergeant O’Leary is walkin’ the beat
At night he becomes a bartender
He works at Mister Cacciatore’s down
On Sullivan Street
Across from the medical center
He’s tradin’ in his Chevy for a Cadillac
You oughta know by now
And if he can’t drive
With a broken back
At least he can polish the fenders

It seems such a waste of time
If that’s what it’s all about
If that’s movin’ up then I’m movin’ out.

You should never argue with a crazy mind
You oughta know by now
You can pay Uncle Sam with overtime
Is that all you get for your money?

It seems such a waste of time
If that’s what it’s all about
If that’s movin’ up then I’m movin’ out.”

5.  “The Long Run” – The Eagles

Life’s gonna’ have some hard spots, but we’re gonna’ make it because we’ve come through so much and we’re committed to making it work. (Did you know the groomsmen in our wedding took bets on how long it would last?  [We’re both so incredibly stubborn . . . ]  Anyway, we’re going on 15 years and they’re all shaking their heads.  )

I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot
I used to stay out till the break of day
Oh, that didn’t get it,
It was high time I quit it
I just couldn’t carry on that way
Oh, I did some damage, I know it’s true
Didn’t know I was so lonely , till I found you
You can go the distance
We’ll find out in the long run
(in the long run)
We can handle some resistance
If our love is a strong one (is a strong one)
People talkin’ about is
they got nothin’ else to do
When it all comes down we will
still come through
In the long run
Ooh, I want to tell you, it’s a long run
You know I don’t understand why you don’t
treat yourself better
do the crazy things that you do
‘Cause all the debutantes in Houston, baby,
couldn’t hold a candle to you
Did you do it for love?
Did you do it for money?
Did you do it for spite?
Did you think you had to, honey?
Who is gonna make it?
We’ll find out in the long run
(in the long run)
I know we can take it
if our love is a strong one
(is a strong one)
Well, we’re scared, but we ain’t shakin’
Kinda bent, but we ain’t breakin’
in the long run
Ooh, I want to tell you, it’s a long run
in the long run
in the long run, [etc.]

6. “The Very Thought of You” – Nat King Cole/Natalie Cole 

(My husband sings this so beautifully – it’s our daughter’s favorite “lullaby,” even at age 10, and that’s why I love it so.  It will be the perfect father/daughter song when she gets married!)

The very thought of you and I forget to do
The little ordinary things that everyone ought to do
I’m living in a kind of daydream
I’m happy as a king
And foolish though it may seem
To me that’s everything

The mere idea of you, the longing here for you
You’ll never know how slow the moments go till I’m near you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It’s just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love

I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It’s just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love