It's meme-thirty

Got this from Diana, whose answers to the questions were really interesting and gave me meme envy.

Ten years ago: I was 25 and fresh out of graduate school. I was recently married, and my then-husband and I had moved from Iowa City (where I got my master’s) back up to St. Paul (where we’d gone to college) and were renting a tiny 1940s apartment in Highland Park. With little hope of a career in paleontology, I got a job at a tiny software firm, tweaking code and writing product documentation in a basement in the suburbs.

Five years ago: I was renting a beautiful little 1920s house in East Nashville, having moved there after my divorce in May. I was dating some guys in town, but I kept brushing them off and making myself unavailable because I was really taken with a particular guy I’d been introduced to via phone/e-mail by some mutual friends. I don’t suppose I need to tell you who that was.

One year ago: Having bought our fixer-upper in the country two years previous, the s.o. and I had remodeled around the clock until we were shells of our former selves, then had taken a several-month DIY break. Finally in July 2004 we got re-energized and started repairing and painting the dining room. We voted in the primaries and we still had faith that the Democratic party stood a chance in the upcoming election. *sigh*

Yesterday: I had a crazy number of interviews to do for some articles I’m writing, and my day was made even crazier by a couple who claimed they were coming to look at the house but then “had trouble getting [their] act together” and put it off till another time. I successfully freecycled my wedding dress after (for no known reason) hanging onto it for 11 years. We had posole for dinner and we watched Supersize Me.

Five snacks I enjoy: good chocolate, peanut butter and jam on homemade bread, pie, real Sicilian pizza, and Vietnamese salad (okay, that’s more of a lunch).

Five songs I know all the words to: “Driver 8” by REM, “Twice the Lovin’ in Half the Time” by Jean Shepard, “The Rainbow Connection” from the Muppet Movie, “Still Be Around” by Uncle Tupelo, and “I Push Right Over” by Robbie Fulks.

Five things I would do with $100 million: Pay off this place and buy a new farm near Portland, Oregon (with plenty of room for livestock and fruit trees), endow a no-kill animal shelter, start my own bakery/coffeeshop, buy a boat and a place to keep it, and travel travel travel!

Five places I would escape to: England, Greece, South Africa, the American southwest, and Appalachicola, Fla. (but not when there’s been a hurricane).

Five bad habits: Not being able to keep my mouth shut when I really should, unintentional thoughtlessness or selfishness, lax housekeeping, procrastination, and not calling my friends and family as often as I ought to.

Five things I like doing: Cooking, eating, reading (fiction or nonfiction, including, yes, cookbooks), gardening, thrift shopping.

Five things I'd never wear: Hard to say, because I experiment a lot. But I think it’s safe to say I would never wear shapeless smock dresses, white tights, baggy sweatshirts, t-shirts that come down below the butt, or Ugg boots.

Five TV shows I like: House, all the franchises of Law & Order, various cooking shows on PBS and TurnerSouth, What Not to Wear, and The Daily Show. As many of you are aware, I also watch American Idol when it’s in season.

Five biggest joys of the moment: The fact that the heat finally broke! Oh, and also: fishing with the s.o., the cool humidity of summer nights, seeing the seasons in Georgia go by one more time, and Netflix (to which I have subscribed again until we “catch up” on all the stuff we’ve been wanting to see).  

Five favorite toys: my ice cream maker, my KitchenAid mixer, my iPod, my River Cottage DVDs, and my eMac.