Sunday Stealing meme

THIS SIDE OF THE POND

1. What's something you've recently accomplished solo?
Well, I attempted to get my long unused calligraphy pens working. I found, after inking up four pens, that I most of them take a non-standard ink tube. Then everyone started giving me advice as I got a bamboo pen to actually take the ink ... I didn't mind that but did get a bit peeved when I started getting advice on how to operate the pen. I was all like "I KNOW how to do calligraphy!' Then I found that I am slightly and/or actually allergic to this particular ink. I did get a couple of lines of text out after all that.
An in-progress is learning the lyre harp. :-) It's not easy to find quality instructionals for.

2. What's one product you use that never ever fails?
My shampoo and conditioner costs a combined $99. That seems like a lot to me. Nanoworks Gold Shampoo and Conditioner Duo. I was given it by a review company. Very, very sensitive to dry skin, allergies, etc. Very, very natural. The shampoo seems like it is purely clarifying at first but then the conditoner makes the day. No buildup. Hardly any sensitivity if in eye but some. People sell the unopened bottles for ridiculous amounts.

3. Have you found your place in the world? Where is it?
Well, yes. But it is complex and private (and yet so simple). Good luck on your journey!

4. Worst movie you ever saw? ever?
Spice Girls or the Miami Vice movie.
Oh, and we walked out of the second Legally Blonde movie.

5. What's the last fun thing you did?
Reorganizing a desk drawer and my fave book shelf ... hey, you have your fun and I have mine. MY fave bookcase has 18 shelves.
Playing sock football indoors with my husband. Tossing a military-style rolled sock ball and running around. I have a thing for football back before it got to be such a contact sport ... like the kind kids used to play in any empty lot.

6. What's your favorite Italian dish?
I make a lot of Bolognese here. I keep jars of capers on hand for Spaghetti alla Puttanesca ... and sometimes add the anchovies like they do in Lazio. If ordering pasta, De Cecco is one of my fave brands. Anything from the Roland Foods catalog (imported from many countries,founded in France) is usually a good compliment ... pesto, olives whatever.
For dream dining out stateside, I'd sup at Sinatra in Las Vegas ... followed by some show of epic proportions. I definitely try the homemade meatballs and polenta fries as a antipasti. :-)
I love learning about the foods made in the countryside of Italy and all the tomato stuff from Calabria in Southern Italy.

7. Have you ever been to France? Any desire to visit there, and if so what would site or city would you most want to see?
I have not been there but have a loved one who really, really wants to go. We'd see as much of the workings of the Eiffel Tower as could be viewed and I would want to see anything to do with literature, movies, poets. Jim Morrison's grave. The place where Voltaire drank so many cups of coffee. Quasi-related, I would LOVE to make my way to St. Helena, in the South Atlantic, where Napoleon was exiled to.

8. Have you ever been to Disney, any of the parks at all? Are you a Disney superfan or something less than that? They're open right now so tell us, would you go if you had the time/money/a free trip?
I have been. I'd like to run/visit during Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend ... "the most magical running weekend ever."

9. Your favorite place to go when you want to be quiet as a church mouse? Would those who know you well describe you as more church mouse or perhaps more like mighty mouse?
Generally, I am pretty energetic. I dance A LOT. When I want to be quiet, that is reading or listening to music(which could include lots of LOUD music, depending on mood). Along the quiet side, I am reading a book about a year in the life of a Shinto shrine. 

10. Do you bake your own bread? Last time you had hot out-of-the-oven homemade bread? What's your favorite kind of bread?
I've been known to make various quick breads in my mother's bread pans from when I was growing up. I do a lot of old-fashioned desert bread stuff. I have bits and pieces of bread-making knowledge and one day that will be the whole puzzle.

11. What's something you might say is 'the greatest thing since sliced bread'?
I've known plenty of people who were born BEFORE sliced bread. :-) Those people!
Besides, that ...
~~~ Simple equipment for Astrophotography!
~~~ The invention of digital cameras and computers.
~~~ Things that help you slice, not mutilate, cake layers. Husband's response to me reading my answers: "Sliced cake. Hey??! That's better than sliced bread, you're right."

12. Share with us five little things you're grateful for today. Small blessings. One catch-they all must start with the letter T.
Taste of Home magazine, tea kettles that whistle, tapes from long ago (okay, so New Kids on the block just came out of storage), tieback tassels for drapes, tomatoes with peppers(Ro-Tel and others).


13. Tell us where you were and something about what life was like when you were 20- 21.
I walked so many places on little adventures that I cherished. I had a simple glass of wine to commemorate the 21 milestone.

14. What's on the menu at your house this week?
Continuing to sample the Halloween treats (includes healthy snacks). I've cases of beans for Fall soups and I'm making a bunch of curries sometime or other this next month. Maybe experimenting with the dehydrator. Comfort foods from an old Taste of Home issue. Dutch Split Pea Soup. Using up a bunch of onions ... roast in my early Christmas present crockpot (the one from when we first got married, couldn't stand one more repair).

15. Something you recently purchased where a coupon was involved? Do you regularly shop with coupons?
A lot of companies choose not to be "participating locations" around here. Off the top of my head, I used a coupon code for some pantry cabinets.

You can participate in this meme HERE. :-)