1) I love my cat , Veev/Veever/Vivi/Vuvvy/Vuv/Voovoo/Buggy/Whatever pops in my head - all short for Velvet. My dad says she's his, but really she's mine. She just sleeps on his stomach while he watches TV every night - the only cat in our long history of having cats that has ever chosen to approach my dad for attention. grins She sleeps with me almost every night and makes me feel better when I'm upset or frustrated or annoyed or sad or all of them at the same time. And she makes me feel even better when I do feel good (which is most of the time). I got her when I was in 4th grade right after 2 of our cats died in our house fire. She disappeared 2 years later for 4 years and miraculously found her way home via our neighbors a couple miles down the road. Apparently she'd shown up at their house one day a couple years prior and they were sick of her having kittens. :) What are farms for but to take in promiscuous cats? But hey. I can't complain. I got my cat back. grins

2) I really like vanilla soymilk. But if I had to choose between that and raw dairy milk - like some random millionaire offered me a million bucks to choose not to drink one for the rest of my life - I couldn't live without the cow. :)

3) I just acquired a new bike. For free. But it's not new. It's been sitting in the dilapitated shed of a house we just bought (more for the accompanying farmland than for the house, though that might come in handy for my brother someday). It needs... a lot of fixing up. :) And the thing I'm most excited about is the Japanese-style basket I intend on attaching to the back of it (after, of course, cleaning off the cobwebs and spider poop, fixing the tires and gears, and oiling it up a bit). One more reason to look forward to spring.

4) I really really really want a white Christmas. A lot of white. Like a couple feet of white. And a whole lot of cold weather - below freezing (I know you all thing I'm nuts, but I have a good reason. I promise.) - because I want our pond to freeze over so I (and whomever wants to accompany me) can go iceskating. :) And if the pond freezes and there's lots of snow we can go sledding down the hill behind my house and slide across the width of the pond. Otherwise you have to stop you and your careening sled before you whoosh into the pond and freeze to death.

5) Tegan, I finished The Handmaid's Tail in 6 hours. grins Sometimes it's nice just to read a book straight through, stopping only for refills on hot beverages. :) I haven't done that in a long time. It's not so nice having to wake up the next morning after going to bed after 3...

6) I like it when I use up the very last bit of hand/body lotion, unscrewing the top and scooping out the last of it with my fingers. Then throwing the empty bottle in the garbage.

7) I discovered that if I want to study, I need a "study spot". I can't concentrate anywhere else.

8) My hands shake when I play the piano for people who are paying attention to me, excluding my family. I love playing the piano, but not for performance.

9) We have an outdoor cat with chopped tail and deformed ear that we affectionately named Stubbs. She's super affectionate and kind of stupid. She sleeps outside on our deck waiting for someone to pet her even when it's raining and snowing, until I suppose she finally gets too cold to stand it anymore and goes to a barn.

10) All of this was so I could procrastinate studying for the GRE, which I now have to go do. It's 7pm and I want to watch a Frank Sinatra - Gene Kelly movie at 8. :) Anybody else like the old Turner Classic Movies (TCM)? I love 'em. grins