French Toast Emergency?

...That's what someone I know from Ravelry calls it when the weather's supposed to get bad, especially winter weather. (Because people go out and buy bread, milk, and eggs: French Toast Emergency, get it?)

We *might* get one here. It's not at all clear if we will - until this morning, local news was denying all possibility of wintry precipitation, but the National Weather Service (not given to needlessly panicking, at least in my experience) was saying it was a strong possibility for tomorrow night and Monday morning.

(O, how glad I am we moved Youth Group back to Wednesdays.)

I did run out to the grocery (the wal-mart, which I was kind of dreading, but I needed a couple things Green Spray doesn't carry) Friday afternoon - to get, among other things, milk and eggs. (I have another Hot Milk Sponge cake to bake tomorrow. I am assuming that the weather will not be too bad Monday evening for CWF...they're saying things will improve (if they even get bad) by Monday afternoon ). Surprisingly, it wasn't a madhouse - maybe everyone was believing Steve LaNore or whoever, and not listening to the NWS.

I didn't buy bread (despite it being a French Toast Emergency) because I had half a thought of baking bread (which I didn't get to today. Maybe tomorrow. Or Monday, if we happen to get a snow day, which I don't think is likely).

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I reinstalled/updated my anti-virus software (McAfee) today; it was set to expire. WHAT. AN. ORDEAL. I had to restart my computer three separate times, remove a couple of programs, sit and wait seemingly ENDLESSLY as it first downloaded, then installed, then decided to start up for a check of the anti-virus software. So I think that means I won't be buying a new computer for a while...the thought of having to go through with THAT again is daunting. (I suppose some of the slow/bugginess is due to the fact that my laptop is some 10 years old. But I resist upgrading, because (a) I kind of hate the latest versions of software I use all the time and (b) the computer still works fine for what I need it to do - I am not a gamer, I don't need superfast speed or lots of memory. I know eventually I'll need to replace it but gah, trying to decide what's "best" for my needs is more than I feel like dealing with at the moment).

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I've been given a "versatile blogger award" by Charles. These kind of things carry a slight obligation - seven unusual things about yourself, and then a list of fifteen (eep, I don't think I regularly read fifteen different blogs. So I'll just list a few. And I'm going to be lazy and refer you to my sideboard for several of them).

I appreciate these kinds of awards (don't get me wrong about my "hnnnng, I now have to find fifteen blogs to list), it feels good to know that people are reading.

Seven unusual facts about me. (Most of these you probably know already if you read regularly, but whatever:)

1. I've mostly managed to resist broken bones in my life (knocking on wood). I broke my elbow when I was in grad school (and was at work so Worker's Comp paid for all of it). Broke my nose once I know of (sledding accident at 13), possibly a second time when I had food poisoning and fainted and fell on a tiled floor. (The doctor I went to said he couldn't tell clearly if it was, and that if it was, it was somewhere that surgery probably wasn't necessary.)

2. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 18, and didn't take a road test for it - I failed the Ohio road test twice (in my defense: the testing station I went to, because of where I lived, had a reputation of failing teenagers for minor things, and also I got terrible performance anxiety). When I moved to Michigan to go to college, my dad suggested I try taking my driver's ed completion certificate in to a DMV (what's more, he took me to the DMV in Escanaba, when we were up visiting relatives, on the thought that a smaller station would be friendlier). They gave me the written test, looked at my certificate, said, "looks good to us" and gave me my license.

3. That said: I've only been in one (very minor - misjudged a turn, dented someone's fender) accident that was my fault - and I can't remember being in a not-my-fault accident where I was driving (I have been a passenger a couple of times in cars that someone else rear-ended).

4. When I was a child, I was very afraid of both bees and deep water. I'm not so afraid of either now - deep water because I know that I'm a pretty strong swimmer (though I'm not fond of driving over a couple bridges here, because getting out of a car that's gone off a bridge into the water is a completely different matter, and some of our bridges are kind of crumbly). Bees I'm not so afraid of any more (though I still don't like wasps much) because I've learned that if you respect them, they generally leave you alone.

5. I use the "pile system" for filing stuff. I can remember where I put something last so big unruly piles of stuff are not a problem. The problem comes when I try to clean stuff up and so I move LOTS of things - I can't remember where I "put last" anything.

6. I have an extremely good spatial sense, and that includes for directions - I can almost always find my way around somewhere again if I've been there before.

7. I also think I have an extremely good color-matching sense, which I probably partly why I like piecing quilts so much.

And the fifteen blogs. This kind of thing makes me a little nervous, because I imagine "forgetting" someone from the list, and them sitting there reading my blog and thinking, "Why...why didn't she link me?" I will say I'm choosing blogs that update fairly regularly, and that are on more than a single topic. There are several on my sidebar that probably have enough diversity of topic to qualify:

Yarnstorm - which is mostly about craft, but she also discusses baking and architecture
Charlotte's blog - which has some knitting but also a lot of slice-of-life writing
Not Martha - I still like this, I've linked it for years, and I still find fun and surprising links she puts on there
Like the Queen - a knitting blog, but she also talks about her work as a librarian, her garden, her dog, family stuff...again, slice-of-life.

Not on my sidebar but I read fairly regularly:

Dustbury. Some political stuff, some car stuff, some basketball stuff, but also pop-culture (and also high-culture, sometimes) stuff, which is why I visit. Also I feel clever when I figure out the more obscure title references.

Lynn (Violins and Starships). Some cultural stuff, some slice of life stuff, some sewing posts.

Mental multivitamin. Mostly literature; she has some really good posts on introducing young people to Shakespeare.

Red Shirt Knitting. Mostly a knitting blog, but she also has very funny posts on the progress of her Sims family...almost enough to make me want to play the game.

That's what, eight? just over half of the requested fifteen, but a lot of the blogs I read regularly tend to be more single-focus...lots of knitting blogs and a few quilt blogs. And some update but rarely these days. Ah well. I'm going to allow myself to be an underachiever for this once, and not search for more to list.