This week for Monday Listicles Stasha asked us ten completely random questions, so here’s probably more information than you ever would have wanted about me since I am physiologically incapable of giving short, to the point, answers.
1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, and find line 4. What is it?
I had a hard time figuring out which was the book nearest to me, as my bedside table is always overflowing with books but this one was the first one to fall off the pile as I approached it: The Lost Art of Real Cooking by K. Albala and R. Nafziger
“our favorite ways for cooking with fresh and bountiful vegetables.”
2. How many times a day do you say Hi?
Not as often as those who live in an English-speaking country… I counted 32 the other day, a surprising amount considering I only say hi to my two kids, rarely to the husband and to a few English-speaking friends here.
3. Have you ever worn a uniform?
Except for a very brief stint in public school (fifth grade) I have always worn a uniform, my very first uniform (when I was five and six years old) was a white Oxford skirt, grey and burgundy striped tie (yes, a tie), burgundy sweater, grey pleated skirt, grey socks, dark blue shoes and navy blazer – please take a moment to imagine that. Yes, my parents were mean. And also, yes, the school was British. For junior high and high school my uniform wasn’t much better but at least I didn’t have to wear a tie.
4. What do you think about the most?
Depressingly, my kids. Or food. Or food for my kids. Also, I think about poop way more often than is necessarily healthy. Occasionally, I also think about a hot, young, rich, well endowed, sex god-like man who falls madly in love with me and whisks me away on secret, wildly passionate and romantic getaways (who is not into freaky s&m mind-control crap with stalker-like tendencies).
5. How many keys are on your key ring?
I had to go look at my key ring to check. Who doesn’t know what keys are on their key ring?? I now have seven keys: door key, little gate key, big gate key, garage key, mail box key and two gate keys for the new house (i.e. barn we’re attempting to turn into a house).
6. What was the last thing you bought?
I am on a shopping hiatus, I can only buy stuff for the kids and as I’ve already done all of their clothes and shoes shopping the only things I’m buying lately are depressingly mundane, like groceries. So probably the last thing I bought was milk, or eggs, as we seem to consume eggs by the truckload. I may, in fact, have to invest in a couple of hens. Though I may first need to come to terms with the concept of chicken shit.
7. Are you growing anything these days?
Since it’s the beginning of summer I’m growing plenty:
and today I found this:
fledgling eggplant
8. What is under your bed?
Mostly nothing, not even dust bunnies as I have allergies. Occasionally a baseball bat, its presence is directly related to how paranoid I am at any given moment.
9. What is most important in life?
Love + health = happiness
10. What is the strangest word you used this week?
This is a tough one, as I regularly use strange, archaic, or completely made up words, this week I did find myself describing someone as having an “Agamemnon complex”. I may, possibly, have made this condition up.
The Bonny Bard 
Your garden is gorgeous, I’m so freaking jealous!!!
I need to be honest and confess I don’t (mostly) plant anything, a gardener plants it, and I just pick, water, and weed…
That sounds like a completely legit complex. I probably have it 🙂 I can deal with a lot, but chicken shit is not in my future either. Lovely garden.
Thanks! I keep going back and forth, fresh eggs, chicken shit, fresh eggs….
Nice garden! I’m jealous. I live in an apartment. Don’t even have room for a container.
what I missed most in an apartment was walking barefoot in the grass, so I hear ya!
Your garden is BOO-ti-ful. And seeing your eggplant gave me a pang. I have about six fruit that were doing good before I left. No telling what I’ll find when I get home.
You’ve probably made many critters very happy leaving all that bounty behind!
I so wish I could garden–yours looks beautiful. I LOVE the idea of an Agamemnon complex and I want to know the symptoms that might make you want to label someone as having this! Erin
I really can’t take all the merit for my garden, the guy that plants it is great, I just try not to kill it between his visits.
Also, Agamemnon complex: someone who is overbearing and willing to sacrifice anything for his purposes.
Your uniforms sounds much better than the one I used to have to wear. Navy plaid skirt, with a white button down and red sweater. ick. Although it was so great to not have to worry about what I would wear in the mornings. When are you inviting me over to your beautiful Italian garden?
Whenever you want! Will you be vacationing in Italy this year? I also loved not worrying about what to wear, and if I looked like crap I could just blame it on the uniform!
That is a fine looking garden.
thank you!
Love, love, love your garden. It so reminds me of my grandma’s garden, growing up in Germany. She was always busy, planting, weeding and watering during the summer! And wow, you have a lot of keys… and more impressively you use them all.
I was actually amazed reading through the other entries at how few keys everyone else had, probably because in Italy it is very rare, if not impossible, to use one key for more than one door.
Love that garden! The bat under the bed made me smile. My husband keeps a bat and a knife in the room (above the reach of children) because he’s extremely paranoid.
Are you calling me extremely paranoid?? 😉
I could see sleeping with a baseball bat under the bed. And as for the topics on your mind, I loved where the went from kids, to food, to a Midnight showing of Magic Mike. How fabulous!
I had to google Magic Mike, how lame am I?
LOL @ Agammemnon complex. And I, too, love your garden.
Mundane purchases and thoughts are, in a way, very reassuring. Much better to be thinking about your kids and food and buying groceries than obsessively contemplating the Apocalypse and buying ammo for your bunker, know what I mean? ;-P
Suddenly I want a bunker….for the zombie apocalypse!
I am in awe of your garden! That’s some serious hard work going on!
Yes, my jaw is tired from eating all those vegetables…
What are the symptoms of Agamemnon complex? I probably have it too…
You may need to morph into a man first, but I wouldn’t exclude it…
Bahaha thinking about poop more than a person should! So very very true!
yeah, thinking and talking!