I didn't get much sleep last night. After a pretty busy day of hanging lights outside, moving money around (I deposited a check for Joa's Arc rescue and paid my aunts' property taxes) and trying to figure out putting a new battery in the hard to reach smoke alarm in the basement stairwell (between the lights and that, ugh, I don't want to see another ladder!), I found myself up late reading over this one site about dementia and caregivers. Then, a good show was on. Then, I needed to check my email. Then, whoa, when did it get to be midnight?! Ah, I didn't do a 5QF post yet!!
Just when I laid down to finally get some sleep: CHIRP!
Ugh... That didn't sound like the basement stairwell.
CHIRP! goes the smoke alarm above my bed. CHIRP! Really?! Butthead, life-saving gadget! If I wasn't so tired my eyes were literally drying out and shutting, I'd have grabbed a chair right then and fixed it. However, I didn't know if we had new batteries anywhere else and I was so tired, like I said, my eyes were objecting.
So, to sleep I finally went and I tackled that smoke alarm in the morning. Oh, did I mention I wasn't all that successful? Yea, a new battery went in, we "tested" it and it wouldn't stop going off ... I'm not sure what that means when none of the others pmes are screeching. Is it broken? Put back together wrong? Ugh. I think this 5QF is going to need to involve a nap at some point... :)
1. What's on the top of your holiday wish list and why?! A good, steady job for obvious reasons ... like paying off all the credit cards I had to use for this holiday. I was thrifty - buying little gifts in bulk, buying from sites that would give me a percentage back on my credit card, buying super good deals, etc. However there were still costs involved. Not to mention, without a job, I've had to pay for other things with my credit card right now, like student loans and my car insurance. :o/
Ok, more realistically, I'd like a Kindle or iPad or some other gadget I could read from. I have piles and piles of books. It'd be nice to cut back on this habit continuing to bury me with something like that.
2. What is your favorite Christmas gift from the past? Out of all my Christmas presents? This is really hard to say. I've gotten really good ones - ones that people put a lot of time or thought into, those are the best. This is also a tough question because my birthday is not long after Christmas, so looking back it's hard to tell what I got when. I can say I got a really nice camera from my aunts' last Christmas. I appreciated that and use it often. My mom also paid for a trip for me one time to go see loved ones, obviously that was a good time and good memories, so I loved that!
3. If you had life to do over, what would you be when you grow up? Well, I don't consider myself grown up quite yet :) I think I might have been a little more reckless though when I was younger. That sounds silly, right? I don't think I was reckless enough in some parts of my life when I was younger and so now I feel like I had a really limited time doing that. Not like dangerous reckless, just you know ... kissed a couple more boys, "run away" to Ali's a time or two (right down the road), stuck up for a few more causes, something. That's not really reckless though. Hmm, I guess essentially I'm saying if I'm getting a second chance, I just want more! I'd also have majored in something a little more exact in college or just applied myself more towards the end and tried to snatch up a steady job before graduating.
4. When do you put up your tree? Typically a couple weeks before Christmas when everyone is home to help.
5. What is your favorite Holiday? I like Christmas, but there's so much pressure nowadays, I think - did you get the right gift for so and so? Could you have found that gift somewhere cheaper? Are you going to get what you really want? Can you make it to all the family parties you have to attend? Is it going to snow? Will the weather make traffic worse, if not dangerous? Is the cat in the damn tree again?! Which card is the best to send to your second cousin's son and what's his wife's name again? I love the gift giving and getting that perfect present that really extends myself and my love, but all the other stuff during the holiday is just pretty overwhelming.
I love most the 4th of July, personally. I think that's a matter of where I grew up though - a parade, everyone who has ever lived in the town comes back, there are parties at almost every house that you can just wander into because you're bound to know someone and in the park, there's fire truck rides and ice pops for the kids and beer in town-themed mugs at the fire hall for adults. Then there's fireworks on what is usually a gorgeous, warm night. How can that get better??
