formerly Diane's Addled Ramblings... the ramblings are still addled, just like before, and the URL is still the same...
it's just the title at the top of the page that's new

Monday, March 30, 2009

Monday Random Miscellany...

Mondays just beg for random miscellany... don't they? Well, even if they don't, that's what you're getting, 'cause I've got nothing else. So, here are 5 random, miscellaneous things about me (calm down now... all that excitement can't be good for you)...

1. When I was in my early 20's, I developed an allergy to perfumes. As a result, I can’t wear the stuff, though I’m always on a quest to find one that won’t make me sick because I like the idea of having a 'signature scent' (that isn’t deodorant or, you know, that sweatshirt I haven’t washed in a week). But when I’m in a smelly store and I spray perfume on (or near) me, it takes about 10 minutes for me to get a Texas-sized headache and feel as though I’m going to vomit. It’s so annoying. I’ve had to ask women I’ve worked with not to wear their signature scents, which I always hated doing, but it was the only way I could function. Strangely, men’s cologne doesn’t affect me the same way. In fact, I’ve been known to go weak-kneed at certain man-smells (not to be confused with man-stink… which makes me go weak-kneed, too, but for entirely different reasons).

2. Until Ryan gets home in the afternoon, I spend my entire day in complete silence... no music, no TV. I like quiet. Maybe because when my kid is home, I experience so little of it.

3. When I was 11, my cousin Stephen shot me with an air rifle. I still have the scar, about an inch down from the hollow in my throat. Having the pellet removed was horrifying, as I had to get a shot to numb the area (and there’s nothing but bone there) and then the doc pulled it out with these big things that looked like pliers. It hurt. Fifteen years later, Stephen became a police officer. When he graduated from the academy, my first words to him were, “I can’t believe they’re actually going to let you carry a gun.”

4. My senior year in high school, I won a state writing competition with a story about 2 girls named Ryan and Elizabeth. Sixteen years later, my daughter and niece were born 4 months apart and though my ex (who picked Ryan’s name) and my brother (who picked Elizabeth’s name) never read my story, our girls wound up with the same names. Weird, huh?

5. When my dad was sick, I used to write him letters from my dogs. I had 2 Cocker Spaniels, Shandy and Tucker, and I’d find cards with pictures of spaniels on them and then write these ridiculously long, silly letters to him in their ‘voices’. I even had a paw print stamp I’d use to sign them. Yeah, I’m a dork. But he kept them all and I found and re-read them several years after he died. They were pretty funny, really.

26 comments:

Mama Wheaton said...

I like your rambling. Have you ever tried wearing a mans cologne(sp)? I wear my husbands sometimes when mine goes missing(teenage girls). I think the letters to your dad from your dogs was the best thing I've read all day!

blognut said...

I like your random miscellany.

1 - I am NOT allergic to all perfumes, but I am allergic to many of them. My signature scent is Donna Karan Cashmere Mist. It is one of the few that does not bother me. I have found only one men's frangrance (other than sweaty balls) that makes me sick. It's Fahrenheit. That stuff is nasty.

2 - Home alone, I choose peace and quiet, too. At work, I play a small stereo in my office to drown out the conversations of co-workers just outside my office. It plays hell with my self-diagnosed attention deficit disorder if I can hear every word they say.

3 - Yeah, sorry about that. I would never shoot you.

4 - Ha! I knew that!

5 - That's about the sweetest thing I've ever heard of... seriously.

xo

Sherri Murphy said...

I'm allergic to many perfumes but can wear the scented creams. Have you ever tried that?
And what about unisex fragrances like CK?

I also enjoy quiet.
In my office I do have a radio on in the background, VERY low but at home while I'm on the computer READING, I don't like any music. In fact, the sites with music on them are very distracting for me. I really can't comprehend the posts while jamming. I always turn their music off.

Sorry to hear about the air rifle incident. No wonder you are for GUN SAFETY!

I'm not a bit surptised about the winning of a writing contest, but how cool that those were the names of your fictional characters.

Your letters from the puppies to your Dad was just too precious.

I'm sure you lit up his day--like you do for so many others.

Sherri Murphy said...

Yeah, I was not at all SURPTISED!
(It's something like being baptised in surprise)!

Stu Pidasso said...

That is soooo cool that you wrote to your dad from your dogs! I bet it made his day when he got to read those (after all he did keep them). My son has been reading my poetry and told me he would like a book of my work, so I bought a neat looking journal and have started hand writing new poems just for him in it. He'll get it for Xmas this year. I just hope my penmenship is good enough.

Anonymous said...

The letters to your dad made me go Awwww. :)

Sometimes Sophia said...

1. ditto
2. ditto
3. your on your own here...
4. weird
5. and you thought I was nuts...

Sometimes Sophia said...

Ahem... brain cramp...
3. YOU'RE on your own here

...sorry

mo.stoneskin said...

It might be worth looking up 'shot to throat' statistics for the area where Stephen serves!

Amy McMean said...

My brother had a pellet removed from his chin after the neoghbor boy shot him. My brother had to be restrained and kicked a nurse in the face when they tried to take it out.

Heather said...

Oh my gosh, that thing about the story with the names... weird! I love stuff like that. It gives me chill bumps!!
Anyway, loved the whole random list. I felt like an insider because I heard the "getting shot" story before! :)

Zuzana said...

I always love to hear those little stories about you.;)) I can not believe you were shot.:P:P
And I do understand that you like quiet, in a way I am sure you need it when you work.
And I have to tell you that your comment at my place today made me laugh like crazy.;)))

A Woman Of No Importance said...

Diane - That was so nice to find out even more about you! I have to leave the room if anyone's in there wearing Chloe Narcisse - Can't stand it!

I would go with wearing the lovely men scents - Many of them are very unisex - I have to keep stopping myself asking passing stray males what they are wearing, in case they think I'm going to jump on them!

And you were shot - You've made it sound funny, but how awful!

I love the letters from the dawgies... I had a Shandy when I was wee too! It's so sweet that your dad kept them - The budding writer, non? xox

Heather said...

I get massive headaches from any overly floral scented perfume. It kills me though when I'm in a doctor's office or something and get in close proximities with someone who obviously showered in their perfume bottle that morning. I takes everything I have not to physically gag.

Missy said...

The letters to your dad... Love this post!

Anonymous said...

Any floral scents give me instant headaches. I hate them. I love what you wrote to your dad. :)

Lee said...

Lovely stories - they add breadth and depth to the Diane we already know and love.

J Cosmo Newbery said...

Yes, yes. Silence is good. Very good.

shabby girl said...

I am soooo with you on #1 (people who don't have that sensitivity just find me annoying), & #2!
#3=OMG!
#4=Funny how things work out.
#5=a very sweet and thoughtful daughter!

Michelle said...

You were shot in your neck??? YIKES!!

That must have been very scary for an 11 year old. Glad you survived!!! :O)

Annie K said...

That is awesome about the dog letters! Whenever the occassion arises to give my parents a card, Bozley always 'signs' it. (Usually I just try to find some mud to stick his paw in and then make his print on the inside of the card.)

hebba said...

love the dog idea.

dianne said...

Lovely, interesting post as usual, that is a coincidence about the names of your daughter and niece.

You're not a dork, my kitties used to write letters to my Dad and sign them with little hand drawn kitty pictures and paw prints; he used to do the same back to me in birthday cards and such.
We must all be a little strange here as they sign cards with their paw prints to all family members and a picture with a speech bubble and my daughter does the same. :)
Lol I should have had a paw print stamp, it would have saved me from drawing all of those kitties and their paws. ♥

Jenners said...

I loved this! We really are almost the same person in so many ways!

Ladybird World Mother said...

I did letters from all our pets! Including the chickens. Strange or what! Parents loved the letters...so I kept doing them! (have stopped now,OK?!)

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