Players list 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, players then tag 8 people by posting their names and leaving a comment at the tagee’s blog, to make sure they know they’ve been tagged.
1. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota. I have fond memories of looking under dried cowpies for night crawlers in the heifer pasture with my brother. Here's the place, from Google Earth. Hi Mom.
2. I met my husband at a summer program when we were in college. Afterwards we dated long distance for three years before getting married. During those three years, I made him mail me handwritten letters. None of this newfangled email! (I'm so sorry about that now, Alex. You have proved your worth.)
3. No kids yet. I keep dragging my feet. Fear of commitment. Perhaps because of early childhood experiences... here's me with my newborn brother. I still feel this way about babies.
4. I love CSI. I feel a little guilty about that, since what kind of person loves shows about violent crime? And doesn't love babies? Yikes. I do love kittens, though. That must count in my favor.
5. Pet peeve: when people don't scale images proportionately so they're stretched too tall or too wide. Hold down that shift key when scaling, people!
6. I found this Psalm, published in the 60s, and I still think about it. I really like it.
7. I also think about whether the time I spend reading magazines and blogs makes me more materialistic. I struggle with the tension between wanting things to be beautiful (which seems like a divine value), and wanting to buy them all (which seems like a non-divine value). How can I justify buying lovely placemats, when people are dying for lack of clean water? I worry about this. Now you have a little glimpse into my guilt-ridden psyche.
8. I'm usually the person who doesn't respond to chain emails and ignores blogging games, so I'm afraid I'm not going to tag anyone else. It's too hard to decide!
Hi backatcha! You made me laugh. And yes, loving kittens DOES count... a lot! Adult brothers and cats count a little, too. And the adorable niece might just swing your vote a wee bit if you come see her again. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe Psalm is great!
I love you,
Mom
Minnesotan here too.... gotta love those cow pies!!
ReplyDeleteHey, you're from rural Minnesota, too?! Thumbs up, girl!
ReplyDeleteNo wonder I love your blog...
Jeanie from Minnesota
I love CSI and children but not so much pets...does that make me better or worse then you? lol
ReplyDeleteI also hate disproportionate resizing with a passion.
I'm not from Minnesota but another MI state and I love your blog!
I agree with the disproportionate resizing... I actually went to a friend's house to see her new TV and she showed me how "with the touch of a button" you can force the image to fill the screen. EEk! I don't know how you can watch a whole show this way!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post, thanks for sharing the prayer, I've never read that before, but it's stuck with me now.
I can concur with the baby hesitation... It's like thinking too long before jumping off the high-dive... ;)
#7, i honestly never thought about it that way. it opened my eyes! now i am slighty guilt-ridden about my desire to buy beautiful things. thanks! just kidding, it did make me think...
ReplyDeletekirsten
I knew I liked you - I'm a fellow Minnesotan:)
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way about #7. I always feel slightly wrong abut wanting, well, anything.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's good to remember and keep perspective.
I don't see why anyone is obligated to love babies. Kittens are definitely cute enough.
I very much enjoyed this......and that Psalm is very interesting. I like it!
ReplyDeleteminnesota represent!!! nice. i really respect your feeling about kids. i love them, but i often love to give them back to their rightful parents. i think more people should consider how they feel about children, because too many people have them without thinking about that. :)
ReplyDeleteI think that too many people have kids because they should. Once people hit a certain age, there is a huge pressure to procreate and, frankly, I don't understand it. We have plenty of people on this planet already. Why do we try to make people feel that they should add to the population.
ReplyDeleteThere is more than one way to create a baby (as most of us with shops on Etsy can attest to).
Finny Knits has some funny posts about not wanting to have kids. http://finnyknits.blogspot.com/2007/07/slowly-becoming-infertile.html
I guess I should make the link a bit more presentable. It's Finny Knits.
ReplyDeleteHello, all you fellow Minnesotans!
ReplyDeleteErica, you cracked me up. I think that makes you better than me. Definitely. :)
Kirsten, I'm so sorry!!!!!! Stop feeling guilty right now!
isn't google earth crazy? but, like crazy-good-scary. or scary-crazy-good!
ReplyDeleteI hate 5. too! and I worry about your 7. too. I don't like CSI though :P
ReplyDeleteOh, hi, I've started stalking your blog :)
I love CSI too and don't have kids either. But I took it a step further--I wrote my dissertation about women who kill. Fascinating topic, but people sometimes back slowly away from me...
ReplyDeleteBesides having my TiVo que full of CSI:All of them, I'm also a closet Ghost Whisperer watcher. That's embarassing enough to not talk alot about. (I guess you find distraction where you can.)
ReplyDeleteI love that your mom comments on your blog, too. Mine refuses to sign her comments, though, and I end up trying to guess which one is hers.
Great blog, btw.
mundanejane
I can totally relate to #7! I am glad I am not the only person that thinks this way.
ReplyDelete#7 Resonates with me, too. Glad you expressed it.
ReplyDeleteI really want to visit your farm someday to check the cows are computer-managed, not walk around open pastures:)
ReplyDeleteHey, I love the face of little Jess holding her baby brother. It seems like you were forced to hold him to take a photo.
As a kindergarten teacher, I'm pretty sure that I won't feel pressured to have my own babies (well, I'm not married anyway though). There are lots of cute, funny, lovely, adorable children around me, and I love them all. Some people say their own children are special, but for me it doesn't matter they come from my womb or somebody else's.
Another yes to #7, but unless you are getting in debt over it, or crowding your home to the point of discomfort, or trying to fill that empty hole in your soul with placemats, I see no reason not to make your own world a little more beautiful once in a while.
ReplyDelete(That's what I tell myself, anyway.)
(And the proportional sizing thing. OMG, yes.)
As a result of this post, 125 people linked to the Bayley Psalm on BarryBlog so far. Wow, you have a royal readership Jess. As for the material thing, I couldn't have expressed it any better. I just got back from a Carnival Cruise, and had about half a good time, and spent the other half worrying about the overworked, underpaid and remarkably friendly cruise staff in addition to the squalor I saw in Belize City and other remote jungle villages in the Caribbean. I bought an expensive watch (over $100 is expensive to me) and my wife and I bought a new bed last night. I have nothing else to say but that I appreciate you, your thinking and your continuing to keep this struggle top of mind in people's hearts. It's tremendously unfair that you and I, and perhaps some of your HowBoutOrange readership of average means, are billionaires as compared to so many people, and these people are as special and important to God as us (maybe more?). I'll stop ranting, but again, thanks. And for the BarryBlog traffic.
ReplyDeleteGuilt just means you care. I bet that you're very balanced in your application of charity and personal gain anyway...after all, you're always giving away great advice, tips/tricks, and pieces of yourself on this blog!
ReplyDeleteThis post made me smile :) im reading all the comments here & still smiling :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing all this, but, for me, especially that Psalm. I'll be thinking about it, and sharing it with some people I love.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on#7.
ReplyDeleteAni
foodiechickie.com
Another Minnesoootan here!! what town are you from? Great blog!!
ReplyDeleteOutside of Slayton. Near Marshall and Worthington...
ReplyDeleteAnd guys, I love all your comments. Barry, YES. Thanks for your sharing your observations. That's exactly it. And thanks for putting up that Psalm.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog...I read it every day. Thanks for the Psalm--I am adding that to my list of favorites. Also, I struggle with #7 as well because I am a photographer and artist.
ReplyDeleteyes, totally agree with #7!
ReplyDeleteHi, I just stumbled upon your blog through apartmenttherapy.com. I love CSI and don't like babies, it's okay, you're not a bad person. ;)
ReplyDeleteI just subscribed to your blog (I was trying to keep it to just one blog subscription, but I couldn't resist--your blog is so fascinating!), and I'm going through your archives. Anyway...I hear you on #7. I think about that, too. Magazines are a big struggle, but I do think we are supposed to make things more beautiful...repair the damage of Eden, you know? Anyway, as much as we are able.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great comment. I absolutely agree. Thank you.
ReplyDelete