Stuff I Can Do

The prompt:  List 10 random things you know how to do.


This one sort of made me pause. I was at a loss to think of anything I could do, which is a definite sign of my stress level these days.  I had to take a few deep breaths and calm myself down.  Okay, so I had a glass of wine, too.  You get the idea.


1.  Crochet  I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking, "Wait--aren't you the woman who can't always remember how to tie shoes?"  And to that I would reply, in a girly high pitched voice, "I KNOW!!!  Isn't it totally groovy?"  And we would giggle conspiratorially, then go back to discussing the latest issue of Tiger Beat.   It is true;  I can actually do some sort of knot tying using a hook, and blankets are the result.  When I was 14-ish, a nice lady at the Boys & Girls Club in Silver Spring, Maryland, taught me how to make a granny square.  I still have that original afghan hidden stored in my closet, and it is still the ugliest thing ever, at least until the colors of the 1970s become trendy again. Nope.  Even then, it's a pretty hideous blanket, but my grandmother loved it, and that's who I made it for.

2.  Sing  I may not have the eye hand coordination to play an instrument like most people.  However, I do have a voice.  Not only do I have a voice, I can sing.  I used to sing in every single choir I could gain admittance to, and that was pretty awesome.  Way back when, I was a soprano, and I would rock the Hallelujah Chorus so hard. There wasn't a high note out there I couldn't nail, and I had fun doing it. I still love to sing, and although allergies and various throat ailments have resulted in a less than stellar voice these days, I still like to sing in the privacy of my car.  Plus, while I'm rocking out at a red light, other drivers are entertained.  It's win-win. 

3.  Give an IQ test.  Need a Wechsler? Kaufman?  Woodcock-Johnson(that is not as potentially porno as it sounds!)?   I'm on it.  I have administered them for over 20 years.  I can give these types of tests in my sleep.  I can't help it.  I like to find out how smart people are.  It's a thing.  By watching how a person handles a group of tasks, I can hypothesize how that brain processes information.  I am very fascinated by all things brain. 

4.  Teach a dog to sit.  If the dog is average in intelligence and alertness, I can have them sitting quietly, no matter where they are. Dogs and I share a fondness for food, and that is why we get along so famously. We will both do just about anything for a piece of cheese. 

5.  Understand mushy song lyrics/speech.  The bane of any good speech therapist is mushy mouth. When your speech sounds like the teacher in every Charlie Brown special(wah-wah-wah), then confusion rules.  I may need to hear a sentence a couple of times, but I am pretty good at figuring out what someone is asking for.  I am also good at figuring out obscure song lyrics, although it may take me sometime.  It took me several years to understand some parts of  "Total Eclipse of the Heart", for instance, but the words 'powder keg' were pretty mangled, in my opinion.

6.  Shoot a gun.  I don't think that guns should be in the hands of most people.  I'm not one of those "repeal the 2nd Amendment" people, I think that, given the odds, guns are too significant a health risk to be in the average home.  Just because I don't own a gun does not for one minute mean that I have never shot one, however.  

7.  Play a MMORPG.  Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game  is a mouthful, and so the internet shortened it to just initials.  I have a level 70 something Loremaster stalking stuff out there in online land, and she knows how to bring the thunder.  This was actually one of the things that I learned to do because I wanted to spend time with my husband doing something that he enjoyed.  And once I played for a bit, I actually enjoyed it too.  It used to be our Saturday night thing, to gather with our guild and do boss fights.  The day we took down the Balrog was a glorious day indeed.  Of course, having children severely curtailed our gaming time, but who knows?  We have enough computers so that we can all play together one day!

8.  I can speak the most important sentence EVER in the history of the Spanish language.  When I began living here after college, I was overwhelmed by a constant flow of Spanish.  Everyone I knew was speaking the language, except me!  At least that is what it seemed like at the time.  So I tried to learn to speak Spanish, and failed miserably.  Then I got a little smarter.  The very first thing I did was to learn all of the bad words.  This way, I reasoned, I would at least be able to tell if someone was insulting me.  Then I had to figure out how to get around Mexico, and I had my friend teach me a sentence to ask around.  "Estamos aqui por la cerveza." usually opens doors. Translated, it means "We are here for the beer."  This sentence is usually followed by the one asking for the location of the bathroom.

9.  Make Jewelry  Yes,  I can create some pretty nice looking earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.  It relaxes me to play around with beads, wires, and charms.  I'm not going to be competing with Kay jewelers any time, but I should be able to whip up a nice pair of earrings for the average gala, should I need to do so.

10. Select the correct wine for dinner.   I love that wine guy who shows up with the wine list at some restaurants.  We usually have such interesting conversations.  I generally listen to his advice, but I know enough about wine to know what will taste good with what food.  Not many people know that spicy foods taste great with sweeter wines, for instance.  After a lively conversation, I generally pick out something reasonably priced that is enjoyed by all.    


 Those are some of my unique talents.  What about yours?

I Think I'm Random Today

I'm feeling a bit "off" today.  My brain doesn't seem to want to hang on to any one thought for longer than it takes to register that it is, indeed, a thought.  In other words, I seem to be having a James Joyce stream of consciousness day.  I blame that Lego Alien dude with his green ray gun.  Luckily, my friend Andrea over at Maybe It's Just Me  saved the day, since she introduced me to Stacy, who is reportedly uncorked.  Uncorked is a good way to be, I think.

I am sad to say that my son went into daycare with his pants on backwards yesterday.  I didn't notice until he was walking away from me on his way into his classroom, because well, I'm not really awake when we drop him off.  I'm still on the guilt trip from that one.  To be fair, the boy is all about independence right now, so he wants to get himself dressed, and I have to let him. Right? I guess that I should be glad that he is still asking me which shoe goes on which foot!

We have a family of barnswallows that visit us every year.  I am not sure what the average life span of a barnswallow is, but these seem to be from the same family that has been visiting us since we moved in.  I am enough of a science-geek type that I enjoy watching the birds as they sit on the eggs and struggle to keep those babies fed.  My cat Zena loves the barnswallows, too--she regularly parks herself somewhere under the nest and takes a nap.  I know that she is doing it just to perturb them! Those birds will make a racket and dive bomb her, but she's a cat, and she loves that drama. 

We have had tons of storms the past week, and I couldn't be happier.  Why?  Because we are about a quart low on water around here, so any rain at all is very appreciated.  At least, appreciated by everyone who isn't my husband.  (As you might surmise, he is the one who mows the lawn around here!)   We've had about ten inches of rain over the past ten days, but we could probably do with ten more.  I would really like to plant some flowers and grow some veggies!

Speaking of random, my son told me that "Dogs don't write."  I think that I will wait to tell him that our dog, Sandy, may she rest in peace, used to maintain regular correspondence with several small children in her younger days.  Sandy was a faithful dog as well as a faithful letter writer, even if her spelling and handwriting were atrocious.  I guess that it is difficult for a dog to hold a pen, but perhaps a smart one could learn to type?  Then it could go into politics!