Crazy Mary

1. What is your favorite re-make song?  
I'm afraid to say this, but my FAVORITE remake (or as they call it in the music industry, "cover") is La Bamba!  Ritchie Valens did the first version, famously, but Los Lobos really MADE that song.  There are a lot of brilliant covers, probably better than this one, but I like this because it retained the authenticity and almost added to it.  That, and I love to sing it out loud when I'm cleaning, much to the dismay of my kids and the dogs who don't know that La Bamba means "The Band"...did you?

2. If you could teach your kids one lesson so they wouldn’t have to learn it the hard way, what would it be?
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check to see that there's toilet paper in the chosen stall of the public bathroom you end up in.  Especially in a truck stop bathroom.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.

3. What is your favorite Elvis song?
This was tough.
I dearly love Elvis and it's often just a "mood" thing with me. 
Keeping that in mind, my favorite Elvis song is either "Suspicious Minds" or "Can't Help Falling In Love".  
I finally figured out that what I adore about Suspicious Minds is the backup singers....yes!....they save that song!  Elvis is Elvis is Elvis, but the background singers ROCK in Suspicious Minds.  And Can't Help Falling in Love is a wonderful, long dancing song whose lyrics talk about how love is unexplainable and undefinable.  That resonates with me, but the tune is a little...schmaltzy. 

4. What was the most memorable disciplining you ever received?
Seriously?!?!  You know my Dad reads this blog, don't you?  
Okay.  Here goes...
I was about 11 years old and my cousin from Milwaukee was visiting the ranch.  Dad told us not to mess around the old house (which is now Grandma's house) and I directly defied him, taking my cousin and our bikes in there, for heaven's sake!  It was the worst spanking I have ever gotten, the last spanking I got and firmly established the absolute respect and obedience that my parents deserved from me. Now that I have kids, it's even more appreciated, although I know my Dad felt bad about it at the time, thinking he'd gone overboard with the punishment.  He didn't, though, and I remember it very vividly.  
On a funny side note, one time my sister, brother and I were talking about our "raising" and Barry and I were discussing the spankings we'd recieved....there were a lot, because we were pretty hard headed, Jen listened to us for a couple minutes and protests, "I don't remember getting that many spankings!"  After a little discussion, we realized that she DIDN'T get that many spankings...not because she was a better kid (let's be clear on THAT point) but because she could be disciplined with a stern voice.  
"Jennifer, I'm so disappointed in you." would reduce her to tears and sincere remorse, while Barry and I were the ones getting spankings, stubbornly thinking "That doesn't hurt...that doesn't hurt".  I know you find this hard to believe, but it's true.   And now on to the last question, lest I reveal too much....


5. If you had to get a tattoo, what would it be and where would you put it?

Stumper.  I'm not really a tattoo sort of girl.  Not even rub-on tattoos!  But I've really thought about this, since 1 out of 3 people of my generation HAVE tattoos, you  know?  Here's what I finally came up with:  I'd get a compass rose (see the illustration) and I'd have it done on the ball of my foot.  Those who know me well and know that I can get lost in Walmart will find this funny (which it IS...shut up!) but also it's very symbolic because I'm always looking for my way, always wondering about the direction I'm heading.  And after consideration, I think the bottom of the foot is a very private place...isn't that odd?....but true.  It's pretty bad when all the OTHER places on a body are pretty ho-hum, including places that Victorians wouldn't have even referenced.  I think only those who know me very well would see the bottom of my foot and they would understand why I'd get a tattoo there. 

There you go, TOASTBA; and for what it's worth, I wasn't exactly lolligagging...I was making French toast and beef kabobs and doing dishes and sailing!