Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

I'm sure you call could care less but I just made a Plurk account because Twitter is always broken. We'll see what happens.

Really, this is the best place to come to read all my brilliance.

Here is a little fun activity I stole from APatchworkWoman.

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Use only the first page of results, and pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab's Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your flickr name?

It's interesting what pictures are returned.

Everyone knows, I assume, that smell is one of the strongest ties to memory. A familiar smell can instantly bring you back to a particular moment, remind you of a person or place, etc.

It always surprises me how amazing this really is. I've remembered things I hadn't thought of in years instantly, perfectly, just from catching a chance smell.

Caress soap and Cover Girl foundation and pressed powder always make me think of my mom when I was a little girl. The combined smell of these things just is her. I immediately think of our house on Maple Street and her getting ready in the bathroom.

Fresh sawdust instantly puts me in my summers with ASP, driving a rusty old pickup with the windows down, winding through the quiet mountain roads keeping an eye out for turtles and coal trucks.

Tareyton cigarettes make me think of my Grannie. I guess just because of this, that is the one cigarette smoke I actually like to smell. And of course there's almost no one in the world who smokes these. Do you know anyone who does? (Note: smoking is gross and killed my Gran, but the smell still makes me think of her in a good way.)

Fresh cut grass makes me think of our big old house on Mt. Zion Road in Pennsylvania. Maybe because I spent a lot of time mowing the lawn there when I was under the impression is was "cool" to do this chore because I got to use the riding mower!

Do you have any smells that have such strong memories for you?

*Name that quote!

Yeah, I know, comments may not be working. Sorry, we're working on it! If you want to comment in the meantime, just email me and I'll add the comment later. Thanks!

Hot chicks with douchebags. Do I even have to say anything else?

There are some seriously creep-tastic guys on here.

Clementine sneakily tagged anyone who read her post for this.

1. I have never been skiing. I know this is almost a sin around these parts, but I grew up in pretty flat places. Yes, people still found places to ski but it wasn't really as common for most folks to be big skiers. I'd actually really like to learn but I'm sure I'll be a total klutz at first.
2. I used to have a deep and abiding hatred for NASA. I've tried to ease up on that lately. I have a friend that works there. My basic gripe was that it was a huge waste of money sending space shuttles up to test silly things. But yeah, they actually do more than that.
3. When I'm relaxed with no expression on my face it looks like I'm frowning a little. My mom has the same thing. I don't know how to fix it. I guess I can't. If you see me sitting around looking like I'm frowning, I'm probably not.
4. I've only had 3 manicures in my whole life. Depending on where you are from that's either more than you'd had or you're feeling sorry for me right now because you get them weekly. Hey, I grew up in farm country in PA and went to high school in a town so tiny it was literally a "village". The average person does not get regular manicures in these places. Basically I like it as a very occasional fun little pampering thing to do, but I can't imagine spending money on it regularly. Why wouldn't I just paint them myself exactly? (This is what has actually happened if you see me with nail polish on.)
5. When I was 10 years old I used to babysit my brothers (who were 6 and 2). I think my parents would get in trouble for that officially now. But it was really fine. I was 10 going on 40. As a comparison, the boys couldn't be trusted alone when they were 14 and 10 respectively.
6. I HATE peanut butter. I hate it with the burning intensity of a thousand suns. I'm not allergic so I can't explain the strong distaste but my mom says I never liked it, even as a baby. I don't really like any kind of nut, but the difference between "not really liking" a walnut or indeed, even a peanut, and the feelings I have about peanut butter is so huge that I might as well say I love all nuts compared to how much I hate peanut butter. If I accidentally eat anything with peanut butter in it, I have to get the taste out of my mouth in a matter of seconds or I will definitely throw up.

And with that pleasant bit of info, here are the rules for this meme, which I barely followed:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag at least 3 people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the fun begin!

Yeah, I didn't do 4 or 5 because I don't have the energy to pressure anyone else. Is this week over yet?

Stolen from Clementine. How fitting to post about my current home when we're looking for a different one.

When you walk in the front door, which room do you enter?

The living/dining room (since there's no separate dining room or space to eat in the kitchen).

Do you have a dishwasher?

Yes, thank god.

Is your living room carpeted or does it have hardwood floors?

Hardwood floors and we have area rugs made from Flor tiles. Our hardwood floors kind of suck in that they're really old and uneven with strange dips, and the cracks between the planks are so wide that they get all kinds of dirt and junk in them.

Do you keep your kitchen knives on the counter or in a drawer?

This supposes that we have some sort of actual set of kitchen knives. We have random knives and they're thrown in a drawer with everything else that's not just regular silverware (spatulas, the beaters from our mixer, salad tongs, etc.).

House, apartment, duplex, or trailer?

Apartment.

How many bedrooms is it?

Two.

Gas stove or electric?

Gas, which I actually love though I never had one growing up. I was scared of them when I had my first gas stove at our apartment in Somerville right out of college, but now I LOVE them. So much better to cook with than electric.

Do you have a yard?

No. Because I live in Boston and I'm not a millionaire.

what size TV is in the living room?

No TV in the living room, only in our bedroom. I think it's 31" but I'm not entirely sure. It's a widescreen HD TV but not a flat panel. Actually traditional picture tubes still give you a better image than a plasma or other flat panel display and they still cost less.

Are your plates in the same cupboard as your cups?

No. One thing we have plenty of in this apartment is kitchen cupboards. Our pots and pans have their own spot, our glasses have their own cabinet, wineglasses another spot, plates their own cupboard, etc.

Is there a coffee maker sitting on your kitchen counter?

Yes. A Keurig (the B100). Because only robreed drinks coffee so it's never worth making a whole pot. But Keurig also sells tea and hot chocolate. Pretty cool.

What room is your computer in?

We have a desk where our server (an iMac) is in the livingroom and our laptop is wherever we are usually.

Are there pictures hanging in your living room?

Sadly, no. We never got around to hanging anything up in this place.

Are there any themes found in your home?

Um... The theme of dog and cat hair can be found in every corner of every room. Otherwise I'd say that we in general try for clean, sparse, and modern. And mostly fail due to having too much junk and not enough clean sparse and modern storage furniture to put the junk in.

What kind of laundry detergent do you use?

All, in those tiny little ultra-concentrated bottles. Makes running to the laundromat at least a tiny bit less traumatic.

Do you use dryer sheets?

Absolutely.

Are there curtains in your home?

No, but I really wish there were. Our next place needs to have them. I think they instantly make a place so much more homey and lived-in.

What color is your fridge?

White with a splash of spilled ketchup usually.

Is your house clean?

Ha ha. No. But it's been known to happen from time to time.

What room is most neglected?

At the moment, probably the kitchen. It's so big and there's so much to clean (inside and outside of cupboards, a lot of floor, things like an odd corner with a bag of dog food stored in it that has spilled dog food droppings all over, etc.) that it hasn't been completely cleaned in a long time.

Are the dishes in your sink/dishwasher clean or dirty?

Sink: dirty (but I swear they were all clean before we had dinner last night!)
Dishwasher: clean

How long have you lived in your home?

Just about two years.

Where did you live before?

In a small studio a few blocks down. Same landlord.

Do you have one of those fluffy toilet lid covers on your toilet?

Absolutely not.

Do you have a scale anywhere in your house?

Absolutely not.

How many mirrors are in your house?

One, in the bathroom.

Look up. What do you see?

Ugly dropped ceiling tiles. They're new and in good condition but I hate dropped ceilings.

Do you have a garage?

No. But also no car, so it all works out.

In case anyone out there wasn't aware (and sadly, I know there are all too many people to which this does apply), wikiHow would like to tell you How To Get Pregnant.

My favorite part of this is the last line:

Pregnancy is often known to result in children. Do not discontinue birth control unless you are prepared for the results, a lifetime commitment.

Hilarious. And no, I was not looking the subject up, thank you very much (if you're interested in getting kids out of anyone in my family, go talk to my brothers). I just have wikiHow as a feed on my Google home page and I thought this deserved a mention.

17%

What I want to know is, why is Hashbrown more likely to eat her friends than me? She's even a vegetarian!

By the way, this is wrong because I assume it is talking about not eating people already dead but killing people. I wouldn't even kill my dog or cat much less my friends, so I guess I'd die of starvation.

I thought I owed you all more than a quick link to another blog where the author actually wrote, you know, like a sentence or two. So, while I am still getting off cheap by copying Jenny, here is a list of 7 things I approve of:

1. Never depriving yourself of dessert.
2. People who love their pets. A lot.
3. Awesome shoes.
4. Doing things yourself.
5. Not taking your bad day out on others.
6. Good design.
7. Everything about Hester Willa. (OK, that's almost a cheat, but it's true.)

Hester with the Raggedy Ann doll my parents sent her for her first birthday. How cute is this?

As per every personality test I've ever taken, INFP, baby.