Five Question Friday

This meme is run by Mama M every Friday. Click on the picture to be taken to her blog.
1. Have you ever had roommates?

As a small child I shared with my sister, however as we got older, this became more and more traumatic for my parents and we eventually got moved to our own rooms when I was about 12. The fights that occured in that single room are legendary, lol. When I went nursing I lived in the nurses residence and for the first few weeks we shared a room. I was with a girl whos name was also Tracy, and we got on ok, but after about 6 weeks we got our own room. At the moment I have a roommate since my daughter seems to think she lives in my room!

2. How many names do you/your children have? (i.e. Prince Charming William Phillip Arthur Louis John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt)
We both have two, in fact all of my family have two. Well, that is two without the surname.

3. Did you watch the Royal Wedding?
Every minute of it until just after the balcony scene. I had to go and fetch Brenda from school after that, but I can assure you that I delayed it until the last possible moment. I absolutely loved it. I know there were a lot of people who complained about it, but I thought it was beautiful and besides the wedding, the crowd spirit looked amazing, the pageantry was gorgeous. Seeing all the scenes in London also took me back to my time there.

4. What is the messiest room in your house?
Ummm, all of it. The room where we have our computers though probably is the messiest, but tidiness is a constant struggle around here.

5. What is your ideal mothers day?
Breakfast in bed, a good book, out to lunch with my family all around me.

Five Question Friday

And Friday rolls around again. Having spent the entire day watching the "Royal Wedding" I am a bit late getting this up. What a lovely wedding it was too.

1. If you could buy any car, money not an option, what would it be?
I would love a convertible BMW, cant remember the model, lol, but it is the one my sister drives. I just love it.


2. What was your worst first date ever?
Well, this was a blind date, but it never went any further than that. It was supposed to be a double date with my friend and her boyfriend, but they pulled out less than half an hour before. I arrived at the restaurant (one where Ioften went with friends and their kids on a Sunday) and the guy firstly was looking very scruffy. Then he spent his whole time implying that I was very wealthy. I dont know if he was trying to get me to pay for his meal or what, but it got a bit tired after a while. He kept hanging over the balcony and saying: "Which one of these flashy cars is yours?" Or, "I guess you earn a big salary" I found this incredibly annoying. Then he told me that he had two children and only got on with one. At first, I thought Ok, sometimes you have a clash with one. (They were both under 10 though) He then went on to tell me all about that child and in the end basically said that he didnt love the other one. But the cherry on the cake was when a stripper came out and stripped naked in front of the table next to us! At that point I just went home. Needless to say I never saw him again.

3. How old were you when you fell in love for the first time?
In honour of the Royal wedding today I will tell you a story about the last one, lol. Bear with me I am getting to the love part. I watched Charles and Dianas wedding (1981) in our school hall and was absolutely enthralled. That was the time where I first discovered Prince Edward and fell desperately in love with him. I wrote him a letter telling him all about myself and received a letter back, obviously written by a secretary but signed by him. Well, I was in raptures and decided that he obviously felt the same way about me. (I was 9 at the time, this is my only defence) My mother, to my eternal gratitude did not allow me to write a letter pouring my soul out and proposing marriage, lol. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) I eventually realised that this was really an unattainable romance and found boys who lived closer to me, lol.
As far as proper love goes, I was 20, although I had had some casual boyfriends before then. But, at 20 I met a guy called Derek who I was desperately in love with for about 6 months until he chatted up my best friend at my birthday party!

4. When was the last time you reconciled your checkbook?
I dont actually have a checkbook these days, lol. However, I check my balances on my accounts pretty much daily on the internet. Please note, this does not mean that I actually stick to any form of budget, just that I check my balances.

5. If you were going to fashion a "Wanted" Ad for a best friend, how would you word it?
Mother of 1 seeks best friend, sense of humour essential. Must be prepared to put up with nonsense, and my forgetful, untidy nature. Must be prepared to accept phone calls late at night since that is when I remember to phone people. However, be my friend, we will have fun and I promise to be fiercely loyal in return.

Five Question Friday

Questions for Friday, April 22nd: (Special thanks to @TylerH2102, @jengacek, Pam,Rachel, and Sandy for their question suggestions! I'd LOVE to link YOU in a future 5QF, just c'mon over to my community and offer up your best question suggestions! It's getting a little sparse over there, so I'd LOVE some more questions to choose from! Also, watch for my weekly Thursday shout out for questions on Twitter [@5crookedhalos]!!)

1. What is your favorite Easter tradition?

I absolutely love going to two services on Easter. The first one is the Maundy Thursday service, I always feel that by going to this service it allows me to start to focus on Easter and its meaning. I also love the early morning Sunday services which I think is beautiful, I love how they start by lighthing the candle and the dark church slowly fills up with light.
Unfortunately I didnt get to go last night since the weather was just miserable and Brenda was not feeling well, and then on Sunday I am helping with the babies at the 8:30 service, so not sure if I will get to the early one either.
Of course, I also love roast lamb on Easter Sunday.

2. Are you a "shower" or a "long, hot bath" kind of person?
Once again, a bit of both. I love a shower, it makes me feel refreshed and clean, and definitely on a work day it is quick and easy. However, sometimes nothing beats a nice, long bath. I love to take a book and a drink into the bath and read for ages in the bath. I keep adding hot water as the water cools. I dont get to do that very often though.
3. Can you parallel park and if so when is the last time you did it?
I can parallel park, but prefer not to if I can help it. The last time I did it was in Umhlanga about 6 weeks ago.
4. What is your favorite Easter candy?
Two things, which I definitely was not able to get when I lived in the UK, so not sure if you get them in the US either.
First one is marshmallow eggs. This is a flattish (around 2cm thick oval disk of marshmallow, it has a yellow centre with white around the outside, so it looks like a thick fried egg. The whole thing is then covered in chocolate. A real favourite in my house and they are relatively fat free in comparison to other chocolate eggs. Sorry for the tiny picture, it was the only one I could find.

The second one is called hens eggs. Basically it is a hollow hard sugar candy egg with a thin layer of chocolate (about 3 mm thick) coating the inside. I like to eat the candy off the outside and then lick the chocolate on the inside. You can also colour the outside. Of course, I do love your bog standard chocolate bunnies etc, but these are my favourite. I always think that chocolate just tastes so much better when it is shaped into an easter bunny!

Not candy, but I adore hot cross buns too.

5. Easter: do you go all out with the Easter Bunny or focus on the religious part of the holiday?

I used to do a bit of both. Focus on the religious part mainly, but always did an egg hunt on the Sunday. However, the last couple of years Brenda has been to stay with my sister for Easter. I dont think she does either, although they do go to church.

I really enjoy this meme, so why dont you pop over to My little life (link above) and join in.

Five Question Friday

And so Friday rolls around again...........
Here are my answers to the five questions

1. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?


Definitely my temper which is fiery to say the least. (I would never hit anyone though)

2. Write about a time when you got lost.
To be honest, I have an amazing sense of direction and have never actually got lost, I have always got some idea of where I am in relation to where I want to be if that makes sense. I dont mean to sound concieted, but I have been told I am as good as a GPS, lol. However the following time, although I wasnt really lost I was getting a bit anxious. I was at Hluhluwe game reserve with a friend, in fact it was our last morning and we were on the way out of the park. Brenda was with us, about 5 years old at the time. She was desperate to see elephant and we hadn't seen an Elephant as yet. So, when we passed a road which said river loop, we decided to take it thinking we would come back to the road we started on. So, I turned off on this road and started driving, and driving, and driving. After a while, we came upon a whole herd of buffalo which we stopped to look at. Then we started driving and driving and driving. It just carried on and on and on and seemed to be going nowhere. We couldnt see anything and the bush was so dense that we couldnt turn around. It was also incredibly hot and we were very thirsty and fed up. After nearly 2 hours of driving we came across a dry river bed which we had to drive across. I of course, stalled the car in the middle, started it up and then the tires got stuck in the sand! I was very worried by this time, but stopped the car, said a few prayers, calmed down a little bit and tried again. Miraculously we made it out and shortly thereafter found a place to turn back, and thankfully made it over the river bed with no problem. I think it was one of the scariest times I have had, not that I thought we were in physical danger, but I was worried of us all dehydrating in the car. When we got to the gate we asked the guard who told us that apparently it used to be a loop which met the main road, but now it was blocked off. We told him to change the sign!
3. Camping or 5 star hotel?

Both, depending on where you are going to. I love camping, especially the freedom of being able to do what you want, but I also love the luxury of a 5 star hotel and being pampered.
4. Have you donated blood?

Nope, but I have tried numerous times and every time they have turned me away. I had some health issues as a child, which makes them reluctant to take my blood, although I have a doctors letter saying I can. Whenever they have decided they will take my blood, I have been anaemic!
5. Do you have a budget or do you 'fly by' most months?

Well, I draw up a budget each month which lasts me as long as it takes to pay my bills. Thereafter I am pretty much a "fly by" kinda gal. I do make sure that I pay everything though.

Five Question Friday

Wow, what a week this has been. We had no water over the weekend due to a burst pipe and then didnt have electricity for 3 days this week! It has felt like going camping with a bed, lol. In this time I had 2 assignments to get done which made life very difficult. Lights came on last night and I eventually managed to get 1 done and will finish the other this weekend.
I haven't done this meme for a while, I did it for a few weeks on my other blog, but then life got in the way. Today I happened to see it on another blog and thought I would give it a go.






Welcome to Five Question Friday!!

Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog, answer them, then watch for the linky post to appear Friday morning and LINK UP! Remember, the most important rule of all is to HAVE FUN!
1. Have you ever had surgery?

I have had my wisdom teeth out when I was 16, and tonsils out when I was 19. I also had a lump removed from my back (not cancerous) when I was about 20. Otherwise, no major surgery and the few stitches after the lump are the only stitches I have ever had.

2. Ever ride in an ambulance?
Nope, although I have been in one a few times. I used to work above an ambulance base and the guys would take my daughter in to show her around.
3. How are you in a medical emergency? Panicked? Calm?
Being a nurse, I am fairly calm, in fact sometimes too calm. Also, being a nurse I am quite hard, so it is a case of "oh, are you breathing?" "are you bleeding?" no? ok, off you go. When Brenda was younger she would never come to me if she hurt herself she would go to my mum! If friends hurt themselves when at our house, she would also take them to my mum and tell them: "Dont tell mommy she will poke you or squeeze you!" With reference to the time I drained an abscess on her finger with my mothers sewing needle, well cleaned of course!
4. Do you have a garden? Flowers or veggies? We do have a garden, with poorly tended flowers. I have tried desperately to have a vegetable garden, but unfortunately these little b**ggers  cuties, just eat them all.
5. When did you move out of your parents house? Moved out at 18, went abroad at 24, moved back in at 26 after my ex left and have never left. It is just so convenient to live on the same property as them especially since I was working shifts and would have had no one to look after Brenda. Now, they are getting old and so it helps them to have me around.

Ok, so those are my five questions answered, this is a really fun meme to take part in. Why don't you pop over to my little life, and have a look.