Answer Me This - Julie is Cheap and Boring Edition

I haven't been very good about blogging lately.  The days have been busy around here and I'd rather spend my nights sitting on the sunporch with a good book listening to the chirps of the birds and the katydids, the rustling of the leaves, and the sounds of so many kids bouncing on trampolines (while mine lay in their beds discussing how none of the other kids on the block have to go to bed as early as they do).
I should be out mowing the lawn this afternoon, but it's 93 degrees with a heat index of 103 so I think that will wait until tomorrow.  Jon threw his back out again this morning and I have a bout of costochondritis (inflamed chest wall for no good reason that makes it feel like you're having a nonstop heart attack - loads of fun!) so we're just laying low for the day.  I thought I'd catch up on blogging by playing along with Answer Me This.  I'm hoping to post a few times in the next week about infertility, a health update, and maybe something cute for the grandparents.....but we'll see how the week plays out.


1. At what temperature do you keep the thermostat set? Summer, winter, day, night?

We are cheap economically and environmentally conscious people so we try to have the thermostat set to off as much as possible.  In the summer, once the indoor thermometer hits 85 degrees, we turn on the A/C and set it to 79.  We turn it off and open the windows as much as possible.  It drives me nuts to not be able to hear the sounds of spring, summer, and early fall.  When the weather turns cold, we set the temp to 66 during the day and 64 at night.  The first year we lived here we tried to live with 63 during the day and 60 at night.  It was doable, but when I found myself reaching for a third pair of socks to wear over the two I already had on, we decided to adjust the budget and the thermostat a bit.

2. What is your favorite frozen beverage?

I have no idea.  Frozen beverages seem like more work and expense than they are worth so I don't ever make them.  We only go out to eat a couple of times a year and I usually try to order whatever is least expensive, so fancy drinks are out then too. I do prefer crushed ice to cubes in my tea and water.  Does that count?

3. Where do you keep your keys?

Wherever I set them down.  Which is why I am always looking for them and often in a bad mood by the time I leave the house.  I do have 3 or 4 usual places, but there are also 10-12 occasional locations and 1 or 2 "which child moved my keys there because there is absolutely no reason I would ever think of putting them there-oh wait, maybe I did" spots. 
When I was single, I had a cute little dish on an entryway table that I dropped my keys in every time I walked through the door.  I always knew where they were, I was never late because I couldn't find my keys, and the only reason I needed a spare key was to loan to the car repair shop.
Now I just toss them wherever they land when I come in the house carrying a week's worth of groceries, a sinful number of library books, and/or a tantrumming or sleeping Meredith.  Jon frowns upon this habit of mine and always knows where his keys are.  Until he installs key hooks just inside the front and back doors, things are unlikely to change.  And if I'm being honest, key hooks probably won't change my bad habit either.

4. Have you ever really been lost? 

Jon and I get at least a little lost every time we travel.  Once, while trying to visit his aunt and uncle, we missed the same exit 3 times in a row.  We still knew where we were though, so I guess that doesn't count.
When I was a child, I got lost a lot.  I was really short and had a tendency to daydream (or read while walking if I had a book with me).  All adults look pretty similar from the legs down, so it was not uncommon for me to wander off with another lady in stores.  I usually figured it out pretty quickly and, after a panicky few moments, was able to find my mom - often without her even knowing I had been gone.
We lived three blocks straight south of the junior/senior high school in a very small town.  When I started kindergarten, a bus picked me up across the street from my house after lunch and another one dropped me off outside the high school at the end of the day.  For the first few days my high-school aged sister was responsible for walking me from the bus to our house.  After that it was assumed that I could walk that short distance home.  All I needed to do was walk to the corner, turn left and walk three blocks to our house. 
The first day that I was to walk by myself, I hopped off the bus, walked confidently to the corner, and froze.  Was I supposed to walk a short way, turn, and walk a long way?  Or was it walk a long way, turn, and walk a short way?  I couldn't remember.  After some hard thought, I chose the latter, which was, of course, wrong.  As I started walking, I did think that the houses didn't look familiar.  By the time I reached the highway two blocks away, I knew I wasn't going the right way, but I was impressed that the cars were stopping for me, so I continued across the highway.
Rather than turning around and backtracking, I decided to go ahead and turn left and continue walking.  After another block, I decided to cross back across the highway.  Again, the drivers were so nice and stopped for me to cross.  I crossed the side street and decided to cross the highway again.  I don't remember if I did so because it seemed like the right path or because I was just having fun causing the cars to stop for me.  After the last highway crossing, I continued on for one more block.  As I was stopped at the next corner trying to decide whether to go back across the highway, a familiar car pulled up and I was ordered into the backseat. 
While I was out exploring, my mom was waiting at home for me to return.  My three-year-old sister had pushed a plastic bead into her nostril and my mom needed to take her to the doctor.  Once my older sister arrived home (without having passed me on the way), my mom left her to wait for me and drove the 3 blocks to the doctor.  One block from her destination, she saw me, stopped the car long enough to order me into the backseat and drove on to the doctor.  I don't remember her being anything but irritated that I was standing on the side of the highway several blocks from where I was supposed to be.  There was probably some concern on her part, though, as another kindergartener who lived on our street was put in charge of getting me started home in the right direction every day until Christmas.

5. What is the last movie you saw in the theaters?

I'm a cheapskate and there usually isn't money in the budget for things like movies.  We almost always wait for movies to come out on Redbox or watch older ones on Netflix.  The girls don't really know about movie theaters and think it's exciting to eat supper in the living room while watching a movie 4 or 5 times a year.  It works for us.

After reading so many positive reviews of Cinderella this spring, I decided to splurge on tickets.  Our local theater has $5 tickets every Tuesday so that made it more affordable.  I really enjoyed the movie.  I think Jocie would have too, but she was too blown away by the Frozen short that preceded the movie to pay attention to anything else.  Meredith enjoyed the free popcorn.  I think we'll stick with Redbox and Netflix.

.......Reading back over these, I'm realizing that all I've shared is that I'm cheap and boring and unorganized about my keys.  Head over to Catholic All Year for more interesting answers!