the most sophisticated people I know - inside they are all children

1. Have you ever sneaked a peek at someone else's journal?

      I have not. I love to know as much as I can about someone, but never at the cost of their trust. That disrespect and deceit is incompatible with my essential personality.

2. Share the last picture you took that wasn't a selfie: 

     it's a maroon iris, taken during a walk on Sunday

3. When was the last time you polished your shoes? 

     I used to have a pair of dark cream-colored

the shoes

leather strappy sandals. They were beautiful, and intensely uncomfortable. The straps were oddly tight but not consistently, so it was hard to know how to shift to relieve pressure. The heels were tiny—kitten heels—with extra small bases, so walking on even perfectly flat surfaces was treacherous. They coordinated nicely with several outfits, so I kept them MUCH longer than I should have. Thus, I needed to clean them pretty often. The soles were suede, the straps smooth leather. That meant two different treatments to keep them looking fine. When I'd finally been pushed beyond procrastination, I would put out a layer of newspaper, pull out a roll of paper towels, rubber gloves, and a brush (dedicated to this purpose), and get to it. A half hour later I would have two clean shoes, half a bag of garbage, and a strange ache in my neck and back. 

    I donated those shoes to a clothing drive at the financial institution, shortly before I left. Glad to be rid of them - and through with the shoe-cleaning business! Though this subject reminds me that I really need to find a leather restorer, to clean and fix a (gorgeous and much-loved) purse.

4. You can only have one type of flooring in your home: what will you choose?

    stone (er whatever) with in-floor heat. I've discovered that I'm not suited to hardwood. Not a huge fan of most vinyl, either. I'm old-fashioned in a lot of aspects of my homeownership, which means I still like carpet: it's warm, soft, and easy to clean. Still, there's little I like better than consistently warm feet in the winter. It's a real treat.

5. On a scale of one to ten, how much do you like pumpkin pie? 

     three. I will eat it when it's the only option or when someone is really pushing it (hi, Mom), but there are a dozen other pies I would pick ahead of it. Pretty much any fruit, for instance. 

6. Where were you and what were you doing the last time you felt nervous walking into a building?

     interesting question! I've given it a lot of thought, and finally settled. It was the O-town branch of my healthcare system, a few years ago, when I was called back in after my mammogram showed some suspicious areas. There's a history of breast cancer in my family, and at roughly the same age that I was when I was asked to return for a re-check. 

    I was, and remain, lucky: upon the second check (which involved probably 150% more images than the first round), the suspicious areas were verified not dangerous. It's hard to believe, when cancer has invaded your genetics, that you will truly be safe from it. I try, though. Worrying changes nothing except to steal life from today.

7. If your hands were tied behind your back, could you get your socks on?

      this one made me laugh out loud. Honestly, why would I need to put on socks, specifically, with my hands tied beyond my back? But anyway—yeah. I have one pair of socks that is terribly loose. If they were unrolled, I could probably snag one between my first and second toes, wiggle it enough to get my other foot inside, and then pull it up using friction from the other foot. Of course, the second sock is always a bitch, right? But because they are so loose, I could probably wedge my foot in as far as it could go on its own, and then find something in the house that would friction it up for me. 

    Well, maybe. I should probably keep this in mind and always, always wear socks from now on.

8. What was the last thing you changed the batteries in?

      my safes. They have combination locks, and the batteries need to be changed regularly (once a year).

9. Who's the most sophisticated person you know? 

     funny, I was just thinking about this earlier today. DG is by far the most sophisticated person I've known, which is notable because he's down to earth and casual, too. Maybe that's what sophistication is, in my mind: the ability to orient oneself to pretty much any occasion.

10. If you had to hide a life-size cardboard cutout of The Rock in your home, where would you put it? 

     oooh, fun! I would put it in my exercise room, for sure. That would be freaking awesome!!

[from 3000 Unique Questions about Me; the title quotation is from Jim Henson]