I've Been Tagged!

Hi All!




Well, it seems that the last tag that I was given wasn't good enough for the researchers to follow me around as I accomplish my stunningly exciting daily routine so . . . I have been tagged again. At least this time the collar isn't so tight!


Seriously, I have been tagged by Coffee Bean over at The Righteous Buzz for this interesting tag.




First, she gave me this wonderful award:

Thanks Coffee Bean! If only I looked that great and was walking a cat instead of a little pooch. Of course, I don't know that either of my kitties would tolerate the whole leash thing. Maybe if they thought they were walking me . . .

Okay - the next part is to tell you all five things that I am addicted to and/or passionate about. The original was addicted and it morphed to passionate about so I will use whichever works best for me!

1. I am addicted to playing Klondike Solitaire on my iPod. I start because I am bored and then I just can't quit. I am obsessed with winning and, since winning isn't very common, I have to keep playing until I win. And then I want to win AGAIN. *sigh* vicious cycle!

2. Speaking of iPods, I am addicted to my iPod. All of my music is on the device and I love shuffling everything together - you just never know what you will hear next and I find that I appreciate the music more hearing one song from an album at a time. Listening to the entire album is super too (okay, did I date myself by saying album? Should I have said CD? I never know these days!) but you kind of get used to the type of music when you do that. Shuffling continually keeps you a little off center so you are surprised by each new song.

3. Continuing the theme, I am addicted to collecting music. I love all different types of music except, perhaps, heavy metal and death rock. Any time I hear some interesting music I MUST get it. Why? To put onto my iPod, of course! I am also addicted to making music (which I think counts in the same addiction). Playing the piano relaxes me and I also like to collect instruments to play and display in my music room.

4. I am addicted to reading. Some people might think that I am simply passionate about reading but, I am pretty certain that I am addicted. If I don't have a book to read I literally get depressed and cranky. This has gotten to the point that even Hubby will notice and suggest that I go get a new book.

****Wait just a minute while I complete my morning massage routine. I almost forgot! Speaking of massage, I got the "thumper" out last night and really worked my neck and shoulders over (carefully around the neck because you don't want to massage your windpipe and choke yourself!). It felt GOOD!

5. This last one is a passion. I am passionate about spreading the word about Spasmodic Dysphonia. This is such an unknown disorder that I think people need to hear about it. Not being able to speak keeps many SD people from getting out there but I am just nuts enough to speak out even when my voice is bad. Speaking of which - do YOU know about Spasmodic Dysphonia? If not, please head over the the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association website and read up on the topic. Then, spread the word about SD!

There! I finished my tag. Hopefully, this one will stick for a while! I am supposed to tag five other bloggers but my problem is that I don't want to tag someone who has already been tagged. I am giving it a shot and, if I tag you and you have already been tagged for this post, let me know!

Ummmmm......

1. Flea
2. Asthmagirl
3. I'm Being Held Hostage
4. Mama Goose
5. Noble Pig

Trisha

Voice Update: Getting stronger as I get on with my routine. I was a good girl yesterday and did all of my exercises. It is hard to remember though! However, it is worth it! While I still have some missing 'H" words the p's and the troubling c's are back loud and clear.

Now I am to share 5 things that I am passionate about (Angela changed it from addicted to) and then pass it along to 5 other bloggers. However, I am going to answer with the 5 things I am addicted to because... well... I'm just feeling silly. I've given it a good think and decided I should put those things which I absolutely must do each and every day!1. Bathing!2. Moisturizing!3 Brushing my teeth!4. Wearing clean underthings!5. Eating!Bloggers I am passing the award on to:1. Paula2. Laura-Peach3. Chris4. Trisha5. April

A Texan Fall and the Fourth Picture

Hi All!


I have seen so many beautiful pictures of fall foliage on blogs lately that I felt the urge to contribute. I went out and looked at the trees in my yard. Hmmmm. Not exactly the same kind of color as the other photos I have seen.



Well, here it is! Enjoy!


Isn't that a nice brownish color? Yep - that is a Texan Fall!

As I was looking through my pictures trying to figure out just where I had put this "lovely fall shot," I was reminded of a post on Dlyn's blog. She got it from someone else and it looked like fun so . . . I decided to do it. This weekend I got all of my pictures organized into folders so it was easy. Here is the deal.

The object is to go to your 4th photo file, then to your 4th photo inside that file and then post it.

My fourth file is labeled "friends" and this is the fourth picture in the folder. This is my friend B and her darling little boy M. Such a fun picture. The next picture shows M with the Mr. Potato Head glasses he is holding on his face - too funny!

My friend B lives with M and her wonderful husband P in Ohio. I think that is WAY too far away from where I am! I miss talking to her regularly and seeing her. She has another child now, a little girl named Amy whom I have never met! Maybe I will finally get the chance to see her when Hubby and I go to Ohio over the holidays.

If you get the urge, check out your fourth picture file and post the fourth picture in that file. Then let me know what you post so I can check it out. You might also want to let Dlyn know! It is fun!

Trisha

Voice Update: A bit of a "hitch in my giddy-up" today. More breaks than I would like. I have been a bit "stressed" with my knees so i am sure that has tightened up my throat muscles a bit. I will keep on keepin' on with the massage and hope things get straightened out here in a bit. I am also back on the inhale "e" plan. I do ten single e's, ten double e's, and ten triple e's. That is one "set" and I do about four sets every hour or so. I haven't gotten Mr. Timer out this week so I do the e's every time I think of it.

Tagged!

Hi All!

The darndest thing . . . I went out to get the paper this morning and a white panel van pulled up next to me. Some masked people jumped out, shot a tranquilizer dart into my rump and pulled me into the van. When I woke up I was on the sidewalk hugging the newspaper with a huge ole tag around my neck! They TAGGED me! Well, shoot! I guess I know what it is like to be an endangered animal!

***Note: The above situation is entirely fictional and shown here for humorous impact reasons only. There was no incident of tranquilizing or abduction by men in a white panel van.

I guess that I have to get this darn TAG off my neck so - here we go!

Coffee Bean of The Righteous Buzz tagged me and since I like the whole premise of this tag . . . I am going for it!

Here are the rules:
• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules in your post.
• Share seven random/weird facts about yourself.
• Tag seven random people and link to their blogs.
• Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment in their blog

SEVEN RANDOM/WEIRD FACTS ABOUT MYSELF:
1. I have started to write about three different novels whose remnants are still lurking around my house somewhere. I have never finished even one.

2. Sometimes I like to pretend that I am a world-famous spy as I am drifting off to sleep. For some reason it keeps my brain from running on and on and lets me drift off into a peaceful sleep.

3. I can't walk over any kind of grate or covering in the sidewalk, the road, or the parking lot. I have an irrational fear of falling through them. Hubby kindly tries to push me onto them when he is in a fractious mood.

4. I remember all kinds of stuff for a long, long, long time. I just can't help it. Once it gets into my brain, I remember it. This is one reason that people hate me when I take classes - I always blow the curve on the tests with little effort because I remember everything!

5. I hate, hate, hate the smell of coffee. I can't stand walking down the coffee aisle in the store and going into a Starbucks is an endurance test for me. Yuck!

6. As I get older I am finding that I don't really like chocolate that much any more. I know this is shocking but . . . I would much rather have a piece of carrot cake or one of those scrumptious iced sugar cookies from Wal Mart. Sure - chocolate is good for a stressful situation but . . .

7. I am really, really good at assembling the "some assembly required" furniture you can get from pretty much anywhere. I really enjoy working with tools even though Hubby doesn't let me do that too often - only when furniture needs to be put together!

Now - I am not going to tag people because - after my experience - I know just how annoying those darn tags around your neck can be. However, if you feel like it - give this a try. It is a good way to do some soul searching - on a small level!

Have a fabulous day!

Trisha

Voice Update: Some more breaks than usual. I will have to step up my massage!

I've Been Tagged!

Hi All!

A couple of days ago Flea tagged me for this lovely Meme so - here it goes. . .

I am supposed to ask a loved one to think of three random things about me. Well, I asked dear Hubby and the conversation was . . . interesting to say the least. Here is a synopsis.

Me: Hey, Honey?
Hubby: What?
Me: I am supposed to ask someone to list three random things about me and guess what? You are that someone.
Hubby: Huh.
(Long pause during which I think he has fallen asleep since I am asking him at about 11:30 P.M. and we are in bed.)
Hubby: What do you mean?
Me: Just that you should tell me three random things about me.
Hubby: Like what?
Me: I don't know - random things.
Hubby: WHAT?
(Long pause while Hubby thumps the mattress a few times.)
Hubby: Can I say you're cranky?
Me: Uh - sure.
Hubby: Can I say stubborn?
Me: sure.
(Pause while I wonder just how wonderful I must be acting these days!)
Hubby: Can I say smart?
Me: Of course.
Hubby: Good. That is three.
Me: Thank you.
Hubby: (unintelligible grunt and three whacks on the mattress which is code for "I love you."

I let him go to sleep then.

So - there you have it. Three random things about me from a loved one: cranky, stubborn, and smart. I am not certain how I feel about those three particular things being what Hubby came up with. Maybe I need to start being a bit more loving! Or I need to ask him these things before 11:30 at night!

Okay Flea - I did it! Now I am tagging a couple people.

I am tagging Coffee Bean, Sara, and Lauren. Only three from me!

Oh - I should remind people that for some reason you must say "Phtphtbt!" in the comment where you inform your "victims" that they have been tagged. Sounds like fun, huh?

Trisha

Seven Strange Facts About Me

Hi All!

Well, I haven't done as much laundry as I had hoped or had as nice of a nap as I had hoped but, I am back blogging.

I had hoped (do you see a recurring theme here?) to have downloaded my pictures by now so I could share them with you but, again, things didn't go as I had planned. I promise to have some pictures for you tomorrow.

In the meantime, I was tagged by Lauren so I thought I would give that a shot.

Seven Strange Facts About Me

7. I am a woman (no - THAT isn't the strange part!) and I HATE to shop. You read that right. I don't like shopping. I shop about twice a year for clothes - if I HAVE to - and don't really like it too much when I do. I would much rather do just about anything instead of shopping.

6. I don't match my earrings. What I mean by that is that I wear four different earrings at all times or - if I am in a particularly "normal" mood, I might wear two matching earrings in one ear and two totally different earrings in the other. This all started when I was 16 and got my ears doubled pierced. I suddenly realized that keeping track of pairs of earrings was way too much of a bother so . . . I just tried to find earrings that sort of went together. It has now rubbed off onto my Aunt Donna who has started the mismatched look as well.

5. I am a shy extrovert. Thanks to some moderate pushing by my mother, I have the wonderful ability to speak to pretty much anyone. Talking to people is now so second nature to me that I do it all the time - in fact talking to strangers is how I met Hubby. But, that is a story for a different time. Despite all of this talking to people, I am actually very shy. I might be smiling and extroverted on the outside but on the inside I am trying to hide under the covers!

4. When I am not feeling well, the first thing that I HAVE to do is cool off my tummy. Most people put cool cloths on foreheads or maybe the back of the neck. Me, it is the tummy. If my tummy is too hot it isn't a good thing. Recently, I talked to my parents and they told me that even as an infant I hated being hot. They would bundle me up (as was proper infant attire in those days) and I would cry until they unwrapped me and I was down to my diaper.

3. Vacuum Cleaners are my sworn enemies and I will do almost anything to avoid using them. This one I blame on the old Electrolux canister sweeper that my parents had when I was growing up. Wonderful sweepers but, this particular one was wearing out the and the connecting where the heavy power head clicked into the hose wasn't working well. I would hook the thing up and start sweeping back and forth. The only problem is that at some random time I would push the sweeper out and, when I brought it back, the hose would disconnect from the power head. That in itself isn't a big deal. The big deal is that it always seemed to fall and hit my toes. It really hurt! Now, that memory keeps me from sweeping as much as possible with a vacuum cleaner. Brooms on the other hand are fine.

2. I won't walk on grates. You know, the kind that are just in the middle of sidewalks without any apparent reason? Some are heavy iron looking things while others look like more flimsy wire contraptions. Sometimes man hole covers are okay but, to be perfectly honest, I would prefer to avoid those as well. Grates over drains in parking lots - no way. Hubby has a lot of fun walking with me (especially when we are on vacation in a play like - say - Victoria, British Columbia, where there seems to be an extraordinary number of grates in the sidewalk) and pretending to push me so that I HAVE to walk on a grate. It freaks me out! I am sure that - being such a petite little flower - I will fall right through the three inch wide holes. Yuck! I get the goosebumps just thinking about walking on those things.

1. I have Abductor Spasmodic Dysphonia. I am sure that most of you who read my blog once in a while know this but, I felt the need to repeat this as something that is strange about me. After all, only 50,000 people (estimated) in North America have been diagnosed with SD and I am one of them. SD isn't something that most people have ever heard of making it a "strange disorder." Also, having ABductor instead of ADductor SD is not very common among SDers so that is "strange" as well. Then, getting a voice back when you have SD happens to only an estimated 2% of people (an estimate by my speech therapist) so it is strange that I have such a good voice at the moment.

There - my seven strange things about myself. In no way are these seven the ONLY strange things about me. They are the only ones that I could think of off the top of my head. If my dad reads this, I am sure that he could think up another seven with little effort! Of course, it is important to note that I do take after HIM (I really take after Mom too but for the purposes of this post - I am blaming most of it on him).

Trisha

Voice Update: My voice is still rocking! Most of the people on the cruise didn't even notice anything wrong with my voice. I did manage to tell a few people about SD - remember that is one of my goals in life these days! I didn't do much massage today (only once for about five minutes) and no exercises. I guess I feel like I am still on vacation. I guess it is back to work tomorrow! I did a little inhale work while imitating the woman at the next table for dinner with the odd laugh. Does that count?