FUN SURVEY

I'm home today nursing a bad head cold that hopefully isn't the flu. I haven't had  one of these since 2018!!  I'm thanking God I have a lot of sick time to use and that the classroom can run just fine without me there. 

I found these questions from  a blogger I just started to follow and thought it would be a fun way for you to get to know me better.....and also gives me something to do while I sit here and sip my hot tea to soothe this throat thing. These questions come from Jennifer's blog

Have you ever been out of the country?  YES!  I first left this country when my parents took us to Canada...Niagara Falls (the better side).  Of course we toured both sides but that was way back in about 1973-1974.  I've since traveled to Toronto, Montreal, Paris France, Aruba, and Rome/Florence Italy.  We spent an hour or so in Munich Germany on a layover flight.  And that's it for my international travel.  One day we hope to visit London and Ireland and Switzerland has been on my bucket list for years. Dave, because he's involved in the Missions Ministry at church has been to all of those places mentioned above with me, plus he's done missions work in Guatemala, The Domincan Republic and Peru. 

Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle? Yes on the back of an old boyfriend from years ago. I hated every minute and will never ride another one. Ever. 

Have you ever lived in another state?  Not really. Unless you count the 2 weeks I lived in Missouri in 1984.  A LONG story.  I really should post that story one day. My husband is from the south shore of MA and I am originally from central New York.  I lived there for 18 years then went to college and stayed 2 years beyond that in western NY.  I moved out here to the Capital Region of NY (eastern NY) in 1986 to attend grad school and have stayed.  We love it here but we hope to retire to a state in New England, preferably Maine or NH. 

Have you ever met a celebrity?  Define celebrity.  I suppose most people would consider that someone from Hollywood, tv or the music industry.  In that case, no.  I did randomly see one of my very fave authors, Lisa Genova, on the street in Chatham (Cape Cod)the summer of 2015 and she and I spoke about her book on Alzheimer's and the one she wrote about autism. It was a wonderful conversation. 

Have you ever been to Disney Land or Disney World? No.  We had no desire to bring our children there and we don't ever plan on going. 

Have you ever planted a garden? YES! I've never had a vegetable garden as we travel a lot in the summer months and work full time when not traveling. However, I once had a deck garden of basil and tomatoes in various pots and I have a wildflower garden as well as a  front flower garden of various rose bushes and flowers from about April through mid-November. 

Have you ever experienced a natural disaster like a hurricane or tornado? We had Hurricane Irene blow through here in August of 2011 shortly after bringing our oldest daughter to Gordon College out in Boston. It did a lot of damage here in the Capital Region as well as in the high peaks and central region of the Adirondacks. I've also lived through 2 major floods at my parents' home in central NY. the clean up from that was awful. I'm thankful we live in an area that only gets very minor earthquakes and a rare hurricane. Mostly what we get is the tail end of a Nor'easter. 

Have you ever won a contest? Yes!  I won a spot in the Research Fellowship Program at U/Albany (not really a contest but there were over 300 applicants and they only took 30 students. I was one of them).  So I received my MS degree for FREE. I also have won 2 contests as a child: both were Bible reading and Bible memory contests.  I also won 3 raffles in my life time:  a wine basket (twice!) from our church's youth group and a beautiful Valentine's wreath from my niece's softball team's raffle. 

Have you ever eaten a whole pizza by yourself? Um, no.  Unless you count the personal sized pizzas from Blaze in which case I usually eat 2 pieces and save the rest for lunch the next day. 

Have you ever done any extreme sports like skydiving or bungee jumping? I have never done either of those things but I HAVE scaled a cliff wall (never again) and I  am an avid hiker of tall mountains (over 3500 feet are my faves).  Bungee jumping used to be on my bucket list until I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease.  And I would love to parasail over Lake George with a friend some day. Dave is afraid of heights so he won't be doing those things. Oh but he did surprise me with seaplane tickets for a tour of the central Adirondack region one summer for our anniversary.  It was just the two of us and the pilot. LOADS of fun.

Well that's a little glimpse of me.  If you wanna play along, leave me a comment and I'll come read your answers.