Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Eight Things Meme

I'm going to go a bit counterculture here and neglect to paste in the rules of the meme. I don't feel like these rules are so crucial to understanding what this is all about, and I'm not always that big on thinking that the rules always have to apply!


1. I often drink water (cold NYC tap is the best) with a few drops of lemon juice concentrate added in. Or sometimes seltzer with the same add-in. Ann has the habit of referring to this as "melon water" and can't get the word "lemon" straight. I'm so used to hearing it that I now refer to it as melon water myself. Speaking of, RaggedyDad, can you make me some melon water with ice and a straw?

2. I like to bake, and baking means eggs. I use a specific glass for cracking the eggs into for checking blood spots, and I still mentally think "No red!" whenever the egg is clean (almost always). Since Ann and Andy are usually on the step-ladder next to me, I taught them to check from on top and from underneath the glass and to call out "No red!" too. Andy's egg announcement sounds more like "Aaah-Re!"

3. For several years after moving here from Israel at age 5, I hardly used my Hebrew (aside from being able to coast through Hebrew language tasks at school) but luckily I got it back for the most part when I was ready to get into it again. These days I push myself to use it whenever I can (with Ann's teachers, in half of the stores around here, etc.), glaring errors and all.

4. Usually, at some point on my birthday, I cry. Not because of getting older, since I still feel like I'm about 16. I guess it's probably out of nostalgia and the sadness of time passing. As a kid, I was often away at camp on my birthday, and it just felt very empty being away from home on my birthday.

5. My aunt is a nurse-midwife and delivered me. And I spent my first day in the world in an incubator because I was small.

6. Even though I cook a good deal these days, I have a mental block when it comes to potatoes. When it comes the differences in cooking and peeling approaches to mashed potatoes vs. potatoes for potato salad, etc., I have to quickly consult with the man of the house.

7. I don't know how to ride a bike. Awful, I know. My brothers were teaching me and got impatient. If I remember correctly, they took the training wheels off too soon and then got bored and went to go play Pole Position or something (I can still hear that droning sound in my memory!). Hence, I still can't ride a bike. RaggedyDad, who rode his own bike for miles to and from school, tried to teach me last summer in Belgium, but his sister's bike was a poor fit and I was pretty hopeless in my apprehension.

8. My mother has two sisters and one brother. Her sisters both have only sons. So I'm my grandmother's only granddaughter through one of her own daughters. Being that I'm my mother's only daughter, Ann is (so far) the only continuation of the "chain of women" phenomenon in our family.


I think that most people I'd tag have either done this already or been tagged. If anyone who hasn't been tagged yet wants to do this meme, consider yourself tagged!

p.s. triLcat, the Polarity Meme is my next one, although I may do a somewhat abridged version!

9 comments:

Jack Steiner said...

Well done.

Chaya Tova said...

I learned to ride a bike at 17. Watching 5 year olds riding all around me at the public park was definitely a humbling experience. That being said I'm only starting to learn how to drive a car next week...better late then never.

frumhouse said...

Great answers!

Leah Goodman said...

if it's any comfort, I learned how to ride a bike when I was 9 or so and I rode it LOADS, but it turns out that I've basically forgotten.

Anonymous said...

I also never learned to ride a bike. My 6-year old can, nut i couldn't teach her for the same reason I don't know how. I think it's too late for me. you have to learn when there is still a degree of fearlessness in you.

orieyenta said...

I love the "melon water" one. It's so fun when our kids make their own little words up (and so sad when they stop using them!)

The egg thing must be so cute. I can totally picture you with your little helpers in the kitchen.

Very fun answers :)

RaggedyMom said...

Jack - Thanks :)

Chaya Tova - Driving made me so nervous at first that I thought I had developed a breathing problem. Stick with it - as the child of a mom who never drove, I can tell you how crucial a skill it is.

Frumhouse - Thanks for the tag!

triLcat - Glad you put to rest the myth that you never forget!

Anon - I agree, and when you're less far off the ground!

Orieyenta - Thanks for the tag! I love those funny things the kids say!

I actually have the same phenomenon with RaggedyDad since he's not a native speaker of English, though it would happen much more often when we first met. I'll admit that I rarely corrected his errors because they were so cute. Some of my favorites (sorry, RD!) - he would pronounce the "Icy Blast" body wash we had as "Icky Blast" and "cajun fries" as "ka-JOON fries." Too cute to try to alter!

socialworker/frustrated mom said...

Cool, very interesting.

Baleboosteh said...

Nice answers RaggedyMom! Melon water...I will have to try that!