6 Random Things About Me

It is fun on a rainy evening or late night (when I'm too tired even to play with DAZStudio 3D images) to wander through other people's virtual gardens, via their garden blogs. One of the gardens I like to "visit" is that of Irena from Toronto, Ontario. And I know she visits my blog also, since she graciously leaves me encouraging comments.

Recently I've been tagged by Irena in her "My Roots Run Deep" blog, to provide 6 random facts about me. So here goes:

1) My 2 kids were born in the same hospital as I was. Some 30+ years apart - Oh my, that's giving too much away! It was called "Burnaby General Hospital" back then, they now call themselves "Burnaby Hospital" (the distinction is too subtle for me, but someone reading this could probably enlighten me on the difference).

2) My favourite brand of facial tissue is Kleenex. Some brands are too hard to pull from the box, resulting in the whole box lifting, and requiring two hands to pull out a tissue. Others don't stay up enough, and tend to fall back into the box. I find it has the right balance of allowing a one-hand pull, but doesn't flop back inside. I only buy the 2 ply. Not that thick 3 ply stuff (just fold it over or pull2 when you need so much bulk!), nor lotions or any other additives. And of course, I buy the bulk pack, but try to find the colour combinations that will colour-match our rooms (beige for our master bathroom, purple for my daughter's, green or blue for my son's, burgundy for the powder room, and other colours for the other rooms).

3) On a similar note, my favourite brand of bathroom tissue is Purex. Yes, the "pillowy soft" stuff. White kittens rolling down the carpetted steps & all (do you remember those great TV ads, or am I dating myself again? I couldn't even find any images for this, or the later pillowy soft ads). Anyhow, similar story. It is soft enough, but not too fluffy & tearable. I won't even try other brands anymore, it is all around the best. I'm strictly a 2 ply girl, but double roll is great, it reduces storage requirements in my closet.

4) We don't have cable TV in our house. We really don't watch TV very much at all. My husband will occasionally watch late news on one of our two available channels. And on the occasion we want to watch something together, we just rent movies (or borrow some of those great "oldies" from the library). We had a 6 month cable trial (one of those real sweet deals) once, primarily so we could test out our wiring (we wired just about every room with cable, and even a satellite run from the attic, when we built the house). In the end, we didn't really test out more than the connection in the family room. And being able to watch re-runs of "I Love Raymond" or "Friends" on different channels at different times, just didn't justify the monthly fees.

5) My favourite cut flower is the Stargazer Lily. It was featured prominently in my wedding arrangement, so the strong scent invokes wonderful memories of the wedding, and the overwhelming scent in our honeymoon suite afterward. It is a good buy, if you can find one in full bloom in the store, since it can be planted in the garden afterward, and reward you with flowers for many years. I once made an online puzzle from a photo of my stargazers.

6) I always wear a seatbelt. I guess I just learned to drive a car that way: sit down, put the seatbelt on, start the car, adjust mirrors, ... So it drives me crazy that my husband will start the car and drive several blocks (or until my daughter or I point it out!!) before pulling on his seatbelt.

Now it is my turn to pass along the fun. But first, let's get the guidelines of this game out of the way:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

I would like to "tag" the following people, whose blogs are also well worth a visit. In fact, I have been considering to pass along my "Creative Blogger Award" (from August 2007!!) to them, but just haven't set aside the time to write up the post!

1) Catherina from Virginia, USA, in her blog "Shabby~Chic Cat's Gardening Close~ups!" Her photos are lovely, prepared as themed collages of prints.

2) Pam from Austin, Texas, in her blog "Diary of an Austin Gardener". I love the garden close-up photos.

3) Melissa in Ontario, Canada, in her blog "Empress of Dirt". Great garden & wildlife photos, and witty commentary, too.

4) Kylee in NorthWest Ohio, USA, in her blog "Our Little Acre". Fun little anecdotes, gorgeous photos and lots of flower closeups.

5) David in Australia, in his blog "David's 'Images of Nature' Photography Gallery". He has some great nature photos, and I enjoy his "Sky Watch Friday" series.

6) David in Gloucester, Massachussets, in his blog "Flower Mandalas". David is a psychotherapist, photographer, digital artist, and writer, involved in healing and transformation through art. Perhaps since my life - by God's grace - has been filled only with blessing, or perhaps since I spend most of my time in the busy-ness of material living, I find I don't really relate to this whole area of healing, but I am nonetheless spell-bound by the beauty of his flower mandalas.

Tag, you're it!

And thanks to Irena for tagging me, this has been fun!