Alphabet Meme

Seems like everybody is doing this one, so I jumped on board too. Yes, Mom, if everyone was jumping off a cliff I probably would too. Stolen from Trueself, but seen several other places.

A is for your age:
40, with 41 coming up fast. I'm so not where I thought I'd be at 40. Funny how things turn out.

B is for your burger of choice:
Bleu cheese burger. Not bleu cheese dressing, real bleu cheese. With rings of red onion.

C is for the car that you drive:
A mommyvan from Ford.

D is for dog's name:
Cubby, but he died in 2002 at age 13. He had diabetes, Cushing's disease, an underactive thyroid, allergies, ear problems, and more, but was the happiest little guy in the world. I adopted him from a shelter when he was 7 and I think he was eternally grateful. We were an ideal doggie/mommy match.

E is for an essential item you use each day:
Glasses or contacts - I'm nearly blind without them. I reach for my glasses first thing before I get out of bed in the morning.

F is for your favorite television show:
24, baby!!! Jack Bauer rocks!

G is for favorite game:
Boggle, though Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit are very close seconds. I kick ass at Boggle. And Trivial Pursuit. No one ever wants to play Trivial Pursuit with me because I know so much trivia. Spousehole was so excited the one time he beat me - but that was playing Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and he's a major fanboy. He kicked my ass, but good.

H is for hometown:
I was born in Muscatine, Iowa, but spent more of my childhood in a small-ish town in Michigan (it got big after I left, they have a BUS SYSTEM now - that's big time) than in Muscatine. Or the place we lived in between.

I is for instruments played:
Started with the clarinet then graduated to oboe. By the time I finished high school I could at least passably play all the woodwinds except flute/piccolo.

J is for favorite juice:
Orange, with LOTS of pulp.

K is for what you'd like to kick:
The food habit. Eating is a terrible habit, but very hard to kick completely.

L is for last restaurant you dined at:
A chinese buffet place last night with the kids, to celebrate Boy's last day of school (until summer school starts in a couple weeks, that is - but that's only 2 days per week). Boy chose where to go and this is the second year in a row that he chose chinese buffet as his "last day of school" celebration place.

M is for your favorite Muppet:
Oscar - he's my role model in life.

N is for number of piercings you have:
Two in the left ear, one in the right.

O is for overnight hospital stays:
I spent two weeks in the hospital after I was born, then several days when I had my throat and ears operated on when I was three, one night after removal of an ovarian cyst and a D&C in 1999, 5 nights when I had Boy in 2001, and 3 nights when I had Girl in 2005.

P is for people you were with today:
Boy and Girl. It's only 7:30 in the morning though, so this will increase quite a lot as the day goes on.

Q is for what you do in quiet times:
Quiet times? There are quiet times? (I just kept Trueself's answer)

R is for regrets:
Lately, having had Girl. She is seriously stressing me that much. I love her, but I really don't like her much lately.

S is for status:
Married, but living 1100 miles apart.

T is for time you woke up today:
6:30, which is far too early for a Saturday morning.

U is for what you consider unique:
My mole on the lower left side of my neck. I'm glad I have it so that if I am decapitated, Spousehole or my parents will still be able to identify my body. Yes, I actually consider things like that.

V is for favorite vegetable:
Asparagus, lightly steamed but still crunchy.

W is for your worst habit:
That whole eating thing - I've tried to give up the food, but my body is absolutely addicted to it.

X is for x-rays you have had:
Dental, right arm after I fell off my bike and broke my elbow when I was 15, lower GI tract (barium enema contrast), lungs many, many times (I get bronchitis and pneumonia pretty easily), knees several times since I was a teenager, both ankles (just sprained), my back (ruptured disk), neck (bulging disks), sinuses many, many times, left hip (dislocated it), right shoulder (dislocated it) . . . I think that's it. OF course there are also the MRIs and CT scans (CT scans are kind of x-rays on steroids). But I won't get into those.

Y is for yummy food you ate today:
I haven't had a darn thing yet today.

Z is for zodiac sign:
Virgo, the virgin. Yes, laugh all you want.

As described here:
Modest and shy (I am - really!)
Meticulous and reliable (maybe not so much on the reliable - see paralysing perfectionism, below)
Practical and diligent (practical, yes; diligent - meh)
Intelligent and analytical (definitely!! to the point of being incredibly annoying)
but
Fussy and a worrier (abso-freakin'-lutely)
Overcritical and harsh (yup!)
Perfectionist and conservative (in many ways, yes; more of a neurotic perfectionist, defined as one who is unable to feel satisfaction because in their own eyes they never seem to do things good enough to warrant that feeling; such perfectionism also leads to procrastination, because if I can't do it perfectly I don't want to do it at all) (See also, paralysing perfectionism - this is me exactly!!)