263 posts tagged “qotd”

Black Friday is the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season. When are you planning on beginning your holiday shopping?
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I start my holiday shopping the day after Christmas.  If I see something throughout the year that I know a loved one would want I pick it up and store it in the 'gift closet' until it's time to pull out the Christmas paper and wrap it all up.

That being said.  This year I bought stuff that will just stay in the closet until next year.  I found some puzzles on clearance and picked them up as little 'hey Mom, saw this and was thinking about you' gifts.  But, Mom has decided that we are not buying for anyone other than the great-grandkids this year.  So, Mom doesn't get her puzzles and Jordan gets left out, too.

We may just stay in Tuscaloosa for Christmas this year.  bah humbug!!

Are you prepared in case of a natural disaster? What do your plan and preparations include?

I have a battery operated radio with batteries.  I can lay my hands on both in less than a minute.

I have a weather radio that I can't program the new county in.  However, should the old county have any bad weather I know about it.

We decided last night that the safest place to go if there were a tornado is the short hallway in our bedroom.  That was decided upon after I shared that I have taken refuge in our 'commode closet' with Darcy and Baron at least three times in the past 11 months.

I have had experience with earthquakes, floods, fires and blizzards.  None of them actually harmed me, my family, or any of our 'stuff' but they have all happened within walking distance of the home I was living in or visiting.

Will you be giving out candy to trick or treaters this year? If so, what goodies can the ghosts and goblins expect to bring home?

Ohhh....I have all kinds of candy and goodies to give out.  Gum, Snickers, Tootsie Rolls, MIlky Ways, Reese's and all kinds of things.  This is our first year in a real neighborhood since leaving Missouri eight years ago.  Jordan missed out on all of the Halloween fun that kids have.  We really hated not being in a neighborhood.  This year we are getting our yard all spookied up and setting up some party food in the garage.  We will be showing scary movies/music on the TV and playing darts while we wait on the ghouls, goblins and witches to come trick-or-treat us.

oh...and uhm....This morning I listened to _I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas_.  :D  I can hardly wait to decorate for Christmas.  This whole house is going to be so awesome and pretty decorated for the Holiday season.

Have you ever returned an item to a store for a refund after having used it?

Probably.  I honestly can not remember.  But, having worked at the service desk at Wal~Mart for many years I can tell you that there are many people out there that don't hesitate to try and return things even after being used many times.  I have horror stories from people trying to return old over-used roach infested items.  There was a time that Wal~Mart took back anything and everything that was ever carried in a Wal~Mart store.  Times have changed and now they are much pickier about what they will take back and what they won't.  One of my most memorable customers was a lady that walked into the store, put her 'return' on the desk and went to find a replacement.  When she returned I told her very nicely that I was sorry but I couldn't give her a refund or exchange on her coffee pot.  She immediately got on her high horse; started ranting and raving about how wrong I was, I would take the coffee pot back and other wise verbally abusing me.  I just let her rant.  I knew I was right so I wasn't going to let her get to me.  When she finally paused to take a breath after demanding to know why I refused to take her coffee pot back I simply explained: "Ma'am, the coffee pot did not come from Wal~Mart, it says on the box and on the reciept that you got this at Sears.  She snatched up her coffee pot and walked haughtely from the store.  I waited until after she was out of the store before laughing but several other customers that were in line behind her did not wait.

I really liked working at Wal~Mart...I loved the customers and helping people.  I did not like the bosses/managers so much.

Who would you most like to be stuck in an elevator with? Least like?

 

Most like:  My son.  But only if I could get him to talk to me about his hopes and dreams.  He is growing and changing so fast that I am starting to feel like I don't know him anymore.

Least like:  There are so many that come to mind.  Bad guys (or girls), an alcoholic jonesing for his next drink, a druggie needing his/her next fix, any of the ex's family (with one or two exceptions), a smoker, someone that needed a shower, anyone with too much perfume/scent on, anyone sick---the list coulc go on and on.

But, if it is only one or two floors I take the stairs: I need the exercise and sometimes elevators make me feel light-headed, dizzy, and nauseous.

What is your dream job? Do you think you’ll ever have it?
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Stay at home Mom.

I had it for about five years. 

Now that the kid is in his teens I doubt I'll ever get to do it again.

Which NFL team are you rooting for this season? Who do you think will make it to the Super Bowl?

The Patriot's.  Always the Patriot's.

For Chris's 40th I got tickets to take him to see 'da Bears take on the Falcon's in October.

I love football.

What's one thing you can't say no to?

Chocolate
Pudding
A nap
My TV shows

....Oh! you only asked about ONE.

That would be "Would you like to hold my baby?"

If you could be the best at anything in the world, what would you choose?

I would choose to be the very best parent ever.

All kids deserve good parents.  I'd like to be the best parent my kid could ever have...then in several years I'd love to be the best Grandma my son's kids could ever have.

Have you ever experienced a natural disaster? If so: when, where and what happened?

October 16, 1989 my Mom and I landed in Oakland, CA for a visit with my Grandpa.  As Mom was driving the rental car on the bottom level of the Nimitz freeway I had a very ominus feeling.  I was begging my Mom to please get us off this freeway.  I didn't like it, it was freaking me out and I needed off NOW!!  Mom kept going on and on about how safe the freeway was and how it was earthquake proof.  None of that made me feel better and finally Mom exited the freeway several exits ahead of when we really needed to get off.  As soon as we stopped at the first redlight and we were no longer in the shadow of the freeway I felt better.

The next evening, Oct 17, 1989 everyone was gathered at Grandpa's house for a speghetti dinner and to watch the World Series between the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants.  My cousin, Cathy, and I were putting the finishing touches on dinner when my Mom said something to me from the family room.  I didn't understand what she said and as I was asking her to repeat it the house started to shake.  Mom repeated herself: "Here's your earthquake" as she was trying to get out of the chair she was in to get away from the big window the chair was setting by.  My cousin, a native Californian, was trying to get to the kitchen/hall doorway, every time she took a step the house would buck and throw her back.  In the mean time I had moved to the doorway that lead from the breakfast nook to the backyard.  As I stood in the doorway I was torn between laughing at my cousin and crying in horror as the ground was moving like waves on a lake.  uhm....the Earth is called TERRA FIRMA for a reason and it is not natural to see the earth moving like that.

As soon as the earth quit moving the TV was turned to the local news so we could see how bad it had been.  News would trickle in the rest of the evening but we couldn't tear our eyes away from the rescue efforts that were taking place on the Nimitz Freeway...the very section that my Mom and I had been on not even 24 hours before.  Now there were fears as to just how many people were trapped and was Cathy's husband one of them.  His job was in the shadow of the Nimitz and he was supposed to be on that section of the freeway at that time on his way home.  We did not hear from him for nearly 24 hours---he was busy trying to rescue people and did not have time to find a working phone to call home and assure us all he was okay.  Luckily Grandpa's house did not suffer any damage, we never lost electricity or water.  

I was living in Houston, TX when a tropical storm came ashore and dropped enough rain to flood a bunch of people.  Luckily none of the homes in our neighborhood were damaged.  When Katrina and Ivan came through we were in Alabama and lost electricity for three days w/each storm.  Ivan took out our apple tree, too.

Way back in 1981 or 82 we were in Minnesota for a funeral and it was so cold that the Holy Water froze before it hit the casket.  Later in the day there was a ground blizzard that stranded travelers for many days.  However, we were just ahead of the storm and made it back to Grandma's house in Sioux Falls.

When we moved to Southern California they were in the middle of a years long drought.  I learned a lot of water conservation tips that I use to this day.  Because of the severity of the drought the wild fires were rampant and I remember standing in the local park watching the fire top the hill in the distance.  I don't know how close we came to actually having to evacuate but I was pretty sure we would have to.  We didn't.

So, there you go....my many brushes with nature.  I absolutely respect her and I hope she doesn't ever throw a tornado at me.