cropper1818

1) Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me!"
2) I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3) You will post the answers to the questions (and the questions themselves) on your blog or journal.
4) You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5) When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. And thus the endless cycle of the meme goes on and on and on and on...

Okay...I told chauncey10 to do her worst and here are the questions she came up with.

1. When you were a child, say before the age of 10, what was your favorite television show?

Seriously? Liddsville. I loved Charles Nelson Reilly as the evil magician Hoodoo.

2. If you were given the choice between receiving a million dollars in cash, no questions asked or receiving a prestigious award (i.e. Oscar, Pulitzer, humanitarian of the year) but with no monetary reward, which would you choose?

This is a tough one. I would have to take the money for two reasons. One is the anonymity and the second is that I could stuff it all in the bank until the kids are ready for college.  The financial security for the kids would be the deciding factor here.

3. What is your favorite style of painting and artist?

I am kind of ashamed to admit this but I honestly prefer photography over painting. I do like Van Gogh and Picasso, if that helps.

4. What's your favorite sexual position and why?

You really want an old married woman to answer this? **rolls eyes**

Such an innocent question that leads to much embarrassment. I have arthritis in my hips, a lovely gift from Mom and Grandma that I was born with. It is painful but not exactly debilitating other than the fact that I tend to limp sometimes. So, due to my "physical limitations", there are some positions that just don't work, like with me being on top because my hips tend to lock up, scream at me and generally destroy the mood. Also, my husband is ten inches taller than I am so stand-up shower sex is pretty much out as well. He can screw the hell out of my belly button when we are standing but that is not exactly satisfying, if you catch my drift. So, by default, missionary is my favorite position.

Then again, any position from which you achieve orgasm is a favorite. Just sayin'.

5. Who is the person that most inspired you to begin writing fanfiction stories?

Honestly? Carol Mendelsohn. She promised us "The Year of Grissom" which never materialized beyond us finding out that Grissom's father died when he was nine. I was so annoyed/disappointed that I decided to write my own troubled version of a possible Grissom backstory and that is where Race come from.

1) Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me!"
2) I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3) You will post the answers to the questions (and the questions themselves) on your blog or journal.
4) You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5) When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. And thus the endless cycle of the meme goes on and on and on...

So...here are the questions posed by smacky30 and my attempt at answering them.

1. If you worked outside the home what would be your ideal job? (Remember I said OUTSIDE the home)

So, you are basically asking me what I want to be when I grow up. **shrugs** No flipping clue. I have done everything from construction to technical writing to short order cook and have been happy doing all of them. I suppose, however, believe it or not considering that you know just how poor my social skills truly are, I would like to teach on the college level.

2. If you were stranded on desert island and could only take one book with you what would it be?

Process and Reality by Alfred North Whitehead

3. What attracted you to Chip?

Why do I detect an evil smile on your face?

Okay...Chip has amazingly beautiful blue eyes and long, artistic fingers...great hands. That is the physical, or rather the first two things I noticed about him other than his hair, which is very thick and curly. The non-physical is that he is a thoroughly decent, kind person. Those are the things that attracted me to him. I won't bore you with how/why I fell in love with him.

4. If you could go back to 18 and live your life again what would you change?

Does it have to be something in my own life or just something that had a huge impact on my life? Because, honestly and truly, the one thing I would change just to see how everything else that happened would fall into place if I removed this one variable, is that I would take the booze away from my Dad. His alcoholism had a profound impact on all of our lives - we had very little choice and absolutely no say so. I think that is what I would change, just to see how it all might play out.

5. What's your favorite meal?

This is going to sound kind of strange, but now that I am a veggie, I really don't have a favorite meal. Maybe beans, cornbread and red noodles, but only if my Mom makes them. Otherwise, I guess it would be a fried egg sandwich or a bowl of Cap'n Crunch.

I got this from snowydragon1776 .

 

That's it. Hope you weren't too bored by my responses.

A) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blog and replace any question that they dislike with a new, original question.

B) Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you.

1. Make a list of 5 things you can see without getting up:
My children, some Legos, the Hub's laptop, the fireplace, my brace

2. How do you style your hair?
HA! Seriously!?! I have wash and wear hair with a no comb option. Sometimes I comb it, sometimes I forget.

3. What are you wearing now?
Black sweatpants, burgundy sweatshirt, a t-shirt of some sort, appropriate delicate unmentionables, socks, fuzzy crocs, my glasses and my Eejit hat (I have serious bed head right now)

4. What's your occupation?
I am a stay-home-mom who crops on the side, among other things

5. Do you nap a lot?
Not generally because if I take a nap I won't be able to sleep when I finally go to bed

6. Who was the last person you hugged?
My son

7. What's your current fandom/obsession/addiction?
Still CSI although Leverage has me intrigued

8. What was the last thing you ate today?
I have not eaten today. Does coffee count?

9. What was the last text message you received?
One from Lesley with a cropping question

10. What websites do you always visit when you go online?
LJ, GF...that's pretty much it. I haven't been online much lately

11. What was the last thing you bought?
Ice cream at Maggie Moo's to celebrate Garrett's victory in the Cub Scout Rocket Derby yesterday

12. What are you listening to right now?
Ewwww...the kids are watching Sponge Bob

13. What do you think about before you go to bed at night?
I pray, and then go over everything I need to do the next day...work on layouts in my head

14. What is your favourite food ?
Eggs anyway you care to fix them

15. What is your favorite weather, and why?
WARM!

16. If you could play any musical instrument, which one would you play?
Guitar

17. How are you?
A little grumpy...I definitely need more coffee

18. What's something you'd like to say to someone right now?
Continuation and reiteration of a conversation on Saturday...Live your life. No one can tell you what to dream or how to go about fulfilling them. I know it is hard to break away, but you do deserve the life you want as opposed to the one others have tried to stuff you into.

19. Say something about the person who tagged you:
Oh wow. I'm not good at stuff like this, especially in public. I'll tell her later when I can chat with her one-on-one.


So...I have to tag eight people? Crud. Here goes:

Sidle77, ssidleismyidol, au grasshopper, ilovegsr, LiT, and anyone else who wants to play along at home.

I apologize for not seeing this sooner, Madame Ming. I am a slacker. I freely admit it.

So...what made me happy today?

Ummm...the Redskins lost?

I can honestly say that going out and buying stocking stuffers for my littles made me very happy today. I really, really hate to shop and I especially dislike fighting crowds this time of year. But, this was for my kids and I had fun trying to find just the right nail polish for the princess and new little elephants for the G-Man.

50337 / 50000 words. 101% done!

I have been ill and haven't felt like updating.

If anyone is interested....

37773 / 50000 words. 76% done!

If anyone is interested, here is my progress thus far...

17033 / 50000 words. 34% done!

I would love to hit the halfway point either today or tomorrow but since the kidlets are out of school today due to the elections, I am thinking it will not happen until the end of the week.

Well, I got a very early start this morning and have been banging away pretty much all day. I must say that I am fairly pleased with my progress thus far.

8060 / 50000 words. 16% done!

A) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs & replace any question that they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

B) Tag 8 people to do this quiz & those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by & cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.

QUESTIONS:

01. What's the last TV show you saw?

Forensics Files on TRU-TV.

02. What are you wearing at the moment?

A pair of blue fleece pajama pants, a green thermal henley, socks, sneakers, appropriate delicate unmentionables, Eejit hat, reading glasses, watch, both braces on left hand/wrist and a gold cross necklace that Cinco gave me for my birthday. I think that's everything.

03. Favorite flavor of ice cream?

Anything coffee or chocolate flavored.

04. What is your favorite scent?

The nape of my husband's neck.

05. What's your occupation? What do you do there?

I am a stay-home Mom. You can figure out what it is that I do from that description. I can assure you that there is no glamor associated with my daily tasks.

06. What do you drink the most?

Toss up between Dr. Pepper and Coffee.

07. What is your favorite restaurant?

Don't really have one but I do like Boardwalk Joe's in Ocean City.

08. What will you be doing after finishing this?

Working on NaNo and kicking my inlaws out the door. Thankfully they are flying to California today.
 

09. What did you want to be when you grew up?

A sports reporter.

10. Your favorite romantic movie?

"American President"

11. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?

I am not at all certain that I can answer that question in a public forum. (Sticks tongue out at Smucky)

12. What's the least favorite thing about yourself?

The fact that I have absolutely no social skills/awareness.

13. What are your ideal qualities in a novel?

I am going to have to agree with Smucky on this one. I love a good mystery - one with a lot of twists and turns.  If I can figure it out then I don't wanna read it and it has been a huge waste of time.

14. What time do you usually go to bed?

Usually between two and three in the morning.

15. What's the meaning behind your LJ username/name/nicknames you go by?

My user name is no great mystery, despite the fact that people tend to think that it has to do with kinky bedroom predilections or something like that. I spend a lot of time scrapbooking. Scrapbookers are known as croppers. Hence the name Cropper. As for the numbers behind the name...when I signed up, Cropper was already taken. 18 was my softball jersey number from the time I started playing ball when I was six until I got hurt and had to quit at the beginning of my sophomore year in college.



I am not going to tag anyone because I am stoned on migraine meds and not really thinking clearly right now...it is 5:40 AM after all. However, anyone who reads this and wants to join in the fun, feel free.

Heh...of course I will do this one.

Meme from mingsmommy 

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

I got tagged by </a>smacky30  

Sometimes it's ok to pimp yourself out. Post a list of your top five fic-favorites you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.

1. SNIPER - This one is my all time favorite of the few things I have written. It just kind of seemed to flow and it was the first time I really used a soundtrack. I took a lot of flack over this story and got a lot of hate mail, but it is, without a doubt, my favorite.

2. THE LAST CAMPAIGN - Heh. Yeah, I know it is dark and a little disturbing, but I do like this one as well. Besides, I got to play with a nail gun and mess around with McKeen. It doesn't get much better than that.

3. HERE AMONG THE STONES - This one was a collaborative effort with Smucky...better known as smacky30 . It was an interesting experience although I'm not sure either of us in is a great hurry to attempt anything like it again since I tend to go slightly psychotic when I write. But, yeah, the end result was worth it.

4. SILVER MOON SHINING - I like this one because it was something very different for me.

5. PRISONERS OF THE DANCE - Yeah, yeah, I know. I have not written this one yet. However, based upon the months of research, the detailed outlines and all of the ideas banging around in my head, this is not only going to be very different, but something I am fairly certain I will be very proud of. It is an obsession right now and I will officially start the writing process on Saturday. I do not mean to tease, but it asked for my five faves. If this translates to the keyboard the way it is coming together in my brain, I think it will be worth reading.

You can find all of this nonsense at my website...http://cropper1818.com


Now...I have to figure out who has not been tagged. This really sucks.

Okay, I tag jellybeanchichi , sidle77 , spanky743 , giwu and dreams_of_him .

From all of the Eejits...



Happy Birthday, Smucky!

For those of you who have been following along at home for the past week...

My Aunt Mary did pass on Saturday. It was very peaceful and she was in no pain.

I did not go to Kentucky for the services but Ma did convey my love and condolences.

We seem to have a theme going this year.

sidle77  wanted to know one of my very favorite John Stewart songs and this is what she did with it.

This is a very powerful and moving video and she made me cry...not only for the amazing video but for the thought and care behind the very generous gift.

Please watch and give her a shout out. She really did a terrific job with this.

Title: The Last Campaign

Author: Cropper

Rating: Mature for Language and Imagery.

Spoilers: Let’s be safe and say everything up to and including “For Gedda”

Pairing: None, really. GSR is discussed. Grissom/McKeen/Team

Disclaimer: Don’t own them. Never have, never will.

Summary: Just a tiny little peek into Undersheriff McKeen’s thoughts. McKeen character study.

Author’s Notes:

Many, many thanks to smacky30  for the challenging me to write a story that is not all about Him! Him! Him!, the numerous head/sanity checks (which isn’t always the easiest thing for either of us when I write something this dark) and her amazing beta efforts.

cincoflex  deserves a huge shout out as well, not only for her fantastic beta work but for also graciously allowing me to rummage through her cyber closet for a pair of shoes. Okay, so I took more than one. Just don’t tell her, okay?

The ever-generous dreams_of_him  made my beautiful banner. Isn’t it spiffy? She is truly the master, the pimp mack mama.

Finally, and as always, a heart-felt nod to the Eejits. They might have had nothing to do with the actual writing of this story but they are always there and they always have my back.

http://cropper1818.com/LastCampaign.html

Angel on the Road Shoulder

Words and music by John Stewart

Oh wind upon the window
There’s a sign upon the door
I’m going home
I’m finally going home
Oh will you love me like before
When I was in Baltimore?
An Angel on the road shoulder
Knows the way home

As I write to you this letter
There’s just one thing I can say
I’m going home
I’m finally going home
Oh you can be the window yeah
Or you can be the door
An Angel on the road shoulder
A light upon the shore

An Angel on the road shoulder
Knows the way home
Clicking off the miles yeah
That I have been before
Oh you can be the window yeah
Or you can be the door
An Angel on the road shoulder
A light upon the shore

Oh wind upon the window
There’s a sign upon the door
I’m going home
I’m finally going home
Oh will you love me like before
When I was in Baltimore?
An Angel on the road shoulder
A light upon the shore
An Angel on the road shoulder
Knows the way home
Clicking off the miles yeah
That I have been before
Oh you can be the window yeah
Or you can be the door
An Angel on the road shoulder
A light upon the shore

An Angel on the road shoulder
Knows the way home

The River

Words and Music by John Stewart

There is something in a moving train
Whistles in a pouring rain
If someone even calls your name
I am gone.

There is something in the sound of drums
In the rhythm as the river runs
Tells me you’re the only one
Here for me

Chorus:

So I sing to the river
As I cling to the river
As I bring you the river
Running free

There is something in a southern sky
In the circle where the eagle flies
I’m wishing it was you and I
On the run

There is something that I can’t explain
Like the rhythm of a moving train
Like the river and the pouring rain
We are one

A couple of weeks ago I received some lovely cropping embellishments from the equally lovely mingsmommy   and I totally forgot to thank her. True, I have not been home much since the end of June but that is no excuse for my lapse in memory or failure to properly express my gratitude for Ming's incredibly thoughtful gift.

So, Madame Ming? Thank you so much for the beautiful ribbons and brads. I am certain that I will think of you and smile when I use them and be extraordinarily thankful that you are such a beautiful person and how blessed I am to have you in my life.