Crazy Mary

More questions for Crazy Mary!
I don't know what's more disturbing, really; that someone actually wonders about these things or that I'm taking the time to answer them. 

In no particular order of importance:

1. Do you read magazines from front to back or another way?

I usually just open it up in the middle and look for something interesting.  I almost always scan to the back, from there, then scan to the front from the middle.  EXCEPT in Bon Appetit, where I read the back page first, every time.  And Shape magazine, where I read the success stories first.

2. On what side of your mouth do you chew most of your food?

The inside.  Next question?

3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess, as a kid?

I went to country schools from Kindergarten through eighth grade, so this answer is not going to be a "stock" one....

When I went to Sand Springs school, there were still outhouses that we used as forts.  Isn't that great?! I mean, talk about the perfect dungeon for captured enemies! We left notes in them...love AND hate notes...and did capture prisoners or trick them into joining our camp.  Usually, it was Boys vs. Girls, but a couple years there, there weren't a lot of boys, so there was sometimes a mercy trade.  I'm not sure how merciful it was, to either side, but it sort of evened things up.  As I type this, I'm laughing that we really did that!  I know the teachers, bless their frazzled old hearts, were just happy we were outside and out of their hair so they could have a nip at the bottle and call another country school teacher for moral support....

At Big Dry, we didn't have playground equipment for the longest time, so we played "horses".  What country school kids DON'T? We'd thread a jump rope through the back belt loop on our jeans and another kid would take the reins.  This game came to a screeching halt when all the mothers started comparing notes and they put the kaibosh on this most lively of sports, because ALL our Wranglers had broken belt loops.  Our good Wranglers. 

The other really, really fun game that we played at both schools was Annie-I-Over.  Do you all know that one?  The kids split up into two teams (and you want the fast kids, here) and each team takes a side of the house...the long side.  The designated thrower on the one side throws the ball over the roof while hollering "Annie-I-Over!!!".  If the ball doesn't clear the roof, the thrower hollers "Pigtails!" and tries again.  If the ball DOES clear, the other team has to have a fair catch (not on a bounce) and the whole catching team comes blazing around the end of the building, with the catcher trying to tag someone on the opposing team.  If they tag 'em, they get to keep them on their team.  And thus sides are exchanged and starts all over.  The point of the game is to capture everyone on a team.  This can go on for DAYS, because there's always a sizzlingly fast kid that can't be captured, but he can capture plenty, exchanging slow kids back and forth, back and forth. 

At Sand Springs, we played it over the teacherage, and that was the perfect building!  At Big Dry, we played it over the actual school building and broke a window, eliminating the game from our choices until the next year when we got a new, innocent teacher fresh out of college and started it all over again.  By the end of the year, she'd have found someone to marry to escape the profession, or started chainsmoking and applying to schools in Alaska, so we never usually had to worry about losing the game for more than a few months.

4. What one thing did you decide not to buy that you really wish you would have?

Besides a winning Lotto ticket? 
Honestly, I'm not really a "thing" sort of person.  But I AM an "experience" sort of person and wish that I had spent the money to do some really fun things when I could.  Everytime I did, I didn't regret spending the money, because I'd live for a long time on ramen noodles and peanut butter to have the memory of whitewater rafting or midnight golf, you know? 
I can't really think of any one thing.  This is the blessing of being impulsive and crazy, to an extent!  No regrets until you get to age 70 and have to work at Walmart as a greeter because you spent your retirement  funds on a 15 day fly-fishing expedition in Canada....

5. Describe your life in six words.

Blessed. Rural. Surprising. Evolving. Yummy. Full.

Had you asked that question a month ago, before the sun came out and when things were at their tensest, here, it would've probably included words like:  Dreary. Medicated. Stuck.



The other question that was posed had to do with my favorite childhood television show and I answered that with the Waltons post, BEFORE the question was asked!

There you go.  Send Crazy Mary questions anytime!