Top Ten Tuesday! - Things that make me itch

Because I'm currently itching, and it has to have something useful about it!

1. Cold weather
2. Super-dry air, like from a heater, or in the desert
3. Hot weather
4. Sunburns, even before the peeling starts (and I burn super-easily!)
5. Detergent that isn't color- and scent-free
6. Every biting insect ever
7. Thinking about every biting insect ever
8. Grass
9. Tree pollen, especially pecan
10. Extreme states of nervousness

What makes you itch?

Sonagonisms: Things Doctor Who has made me nervous about

- Bluetooth ear pieces
- Santa
- Christmas trees
- Snow
- Falling stars
- Cracks in the wall
- Mysterious doorways
- Waiting
- Being left behind
- Not finding the Tardis

Shonagonisms: Things I know from living with a cat

• You don't own a cat; they just sort of agree to live in your house and act like it's theirs.
• You can't train a cat, but they can totally train you.
• Scoop the litter box all the time--like, every time you look at it--to keep the cat from peeing on anything else.
• Corollary: Keep the litter box as close to the toilet as possible to facilitate easy scooping.
• The stinkier the food and the closer you feed them to your bed, the more the cat will love the food.
• A warm cat on a cold day is proof that god loves us.
• It's totally not weird to refer to cats as 'babies' even after they've been alive for more than a decade.
• Expensive cat toys will be ignored; gum wrappers, scraps of paper, old string, these are acceptable and fun, but only when you're not looking.
• Other cats are all jerks to your favorite cat, even when they're getting along.
• Catbeds are unneccessary; stacks of papers you need to access, narrow spaces that shouldn't be lay-on-able, your pillow when you need it, the middle of your view of the TV, the middle of the book you're currently reading, these are all places for cats to sleep.
• A kitten sitting on your foot is the best reason not to get up and do something you don't want to do anyway.
• Cats can take care of themselves, they just like it better when you do.
• Furry alarm clocks are more accurate than mechanical ones.
• It's totally reasonable to spend a day following sunspots through the house.
• Every cat remembers, from before it was born, that it's related to lions and was once a god. Act accordingly.

Shonagonisms - Ten random facts about me

1. My favorite color is a very specific range of greens, so I tend to wear more blue because I'm less picky about it
2. I will willingly and cheerfully watch videos of cats getting stuck in small spaces for hours
3. I used to have such a heavy Scottish accent that when we visited family in the US, they couldn't understand what I was saying
4. I don't believe closets are the best way to organize clothes; I'd rather have a room without a closet and a wardrobe, a clothes track and a series of hooks on the wall
5. I would rather live in the UK than anywhere I've found here
6. I feel most at home when I'm in an airport waiting on a plane
7. I can't remember a damn thing without writing it down, and so I almost always have a pen and paper on me--and go a little bonkers when I don't
8. I am a sucker for sweets recipes that include sweetened condensed milk, especially things like Magic Cookie Bars and variations on them
9. I never thought I'd enjoy working out, but I actually do, and it weirds me out a little
10. I'm pretty sure that English needs more compound words for things that are always used together-- evenif, afterall, lastnight, etc

What ten facts about you will you share?

Shonagonisms: Things to assume to make the world more interesting

• Everything vague someone says is actually all they are allowed to say before they give away national secrets (thanks, XKCD!)
• Those strange lights you see out of the corner of your eye when you're overtired are actually reflected off things in a close-parallel universe
• Whenever the internet slows down, it's because someone is borrowing your data to contact alien life
• Cats speak a tonal language that communicates over long distances and so have contact to all other cats with very little effort
• Beer really is a proof that God wants us to be happy
• Weird people are only weird because they're newly-arrived visitors from the future who don't quite understand how we do things yet
• Birds are constantly telling us everyone's secrets, but we just don't understand them

Shonagonisms: Things that alarm me

• Alarms
• Babies crying
• Strange noises at night
• Remembering things I forgot to do
• First dates
• Reading poetry aloud
• Season finale cliff-hangers

Shonagonisms: Actors who are secretly english

• Hugh Laurie - House
• Andrew Lincoln - Walking Dead
• Lauren Cohan - Walking Dead
• Ed Westwick - Gossip Girl
• Stephen Moyer - True Blood
• Josh Bowman - Revenge
• Andrew Garfield - The Amazing Spiderman
• Owain Yeoman - The Mentalist
• Damian Lewis - Homeland
• Idris Elba - The Wire 
• Anna Friel - Pushing Daisies
• Michelle Ryan - Bionic Woman (flop that it was)
• Gary Oldman - Almost every movie he'd done
• Jamie Bamber - Battlestar Galactica
• Jason Isaacs - Awake
• Jake Weber - Medium
• Bob Hoskans - Half his movies
• Sophia Miles - Moonlight
• Tim Roth - Lie to Me
• Henry Cavill - Superman
• Rufus Sewell - Eleventh Hour (remember that?)
• Marianne Jean-Baptiste - Without A Trace

Bonus: Other non-Americans

• Alan Cumming - The Good Wife - Scottish
• Simon Baker - The Mentalist - Australian
• Alex O'Laughlin - Hawaii Five-0 - Australian
• Tammin Sursok - Pretty Little Liars - Australian
• Kevin McKidd - Grey's Anatomy - Scottish
• Ryan Kwanten - True Blood - Australian
• Liam Hemsworth - Hunger Games / Expendables 2 - Australian
• Rose Byrne - Damages - Australian
• Anna Torv - Fringe - Australian
• Christian Bale - Batman / Et al - Welsh
• Ioan Gruffudd - Fantastic Four / Ringer - Welsh
• Anthony LaPaglia - Without A Trace - Australian
• Jason O'Mara - ABC's Life on Mars / Terra Nova - Irish

Shonogonisms: Things I love the look of

• Fluids flowing together--like milk in tea or coffee, or ink in water
• Bare branches against a clean sky through my bedroom window
• A man's hands with long fingers, gesturing
• Sunlight through my own hair
• A pile of books I haven't read yet
• Sheer curtains with a cat behind them, looking out the window
• Lanterns hanging in a tree
• Tea in a glass, with light shining through it
• Dew on rose petals
• Piles of pillows and blankets with good light and space for me
• Red things on rainy days
• The clean lines of midcentury modern furniture
• Tall, thin men in good suits or pea coats
• The creaminess of a perfect flan
• Diamonds on dark skin
• A half-written page, begging for the rest of the words
• Things that are perfectly made, but much too small or too large
• Tall guys standing next to short girls
• Inside things set up outside as if they aren't outside
• Sterling silver in organic styles

shonagonisms: facts about me

I have very small wrists and feet. Even when I gained 30 lbs after college, my wrist is only about 5.5 inches around, and at best I wear about a size five shoe. Two in Converse and three in Doc Martins.

I've only had short hair three times in my life, and one of them was before my hair grew in the first time.

My favorite parts of myself are my left eyebrow and my tattoos; my favorite parts of other people are usually little patches of the softest skin they have.

I think I could survive the collapse of society.

I think I would make a stellar Companion for the Doctor.

My favorite time of the day is that moment right after you realize you're awake, but you're still totally relaxed, and the sun is coming through the windows, and your bed is soft, and everything is still fresh and good.

I pretty much only know how to cook enough for five or more people; when I cook for myself, there's always leftovers for days.

I believe cats are agents of Chaos in a totally sweet and muzzy sort of way.

The best way to get me to read a book is to give it a nice cover, and there's a bonus if it contains things I like to read about.

At some point or another, I have a crush on every friend that becomes a close friend; it's part of the bonding process.

I've seen Rocky Horror live four times in four different places.

I have very specific tastes in boys, and never seem to date anyone who falls in that category.

I'm a romantic... but I tend to not like all the things we're told to do for valentines: I like my roses to be alive and in my garden, I like my chocolate to be in things other than heart-shaped boxes, I don't care much for diamonds and really don't like those things the jewelry stores push like the journey diamonds and that weird heart thing from Jane Seymour.

I tend to believe that people who like things that I like can't be all bad.

I try really hard not to be a screaming liberal, but I am pretty much there, most of the time. I just keep it to myself.

I'm convinced there are few things better than a really good book that changes your life.

I don't know how to take short showers.

You'll know when I've been cleaning because I'll be wearing all the random hair things and jewelry and accessories I found along the way.

I love fresh new office supplies to an unseemly degree.

Puns amuse me more than long jokes, especially if they have something to do with the subjects I love most: language, grammar, cats, pirates, tea, scifi, fantasy, books, cats, etc.

shonagonisms: topics that matter to me

Human rights / Gay rights / Equal rights -- Everyone should have the same rights
Literacy
Environmentalism and Greening your life
Space exploration to save ourselves and keep moving forward
Education -- the more that's mandatory and diversified, the better
Non-coporate-ness / Small business / Handmade and Local
Food Supply and control
Archaeological Conservation Protection and Preservation
Religious tolerance and middle-of-the-roading as a defense against fundamentalism from all sides
Social reform -- the kind that verges on socialism because I think our governing bodies should take care of us
Tattoos as art and the acceptance there of
Scotland and Scots
Support of redheads and perpetration of the gene
Exogamy
Gardening for food and beauty
Geekery as a valid academic practice and subject, and even a way of life
Diversification of knowledge / Interdisciplinary studies and such
Seeking balance in all things
Travel as a way to save the world
Clean energy and the pointed need to turn over to it
Beauty
The preservation of old ways by learning and teaching them
Linguistics
The need to understand history and prehistory so we can keep moving forward
The obligation for better developed places to help those that aren't-- and the right of those that aren't to take the offer on their own terms
The creative solving of problems-- and finding better ways to re-solve old ones
Progress as the embrace of technology that improves lives
The slowing of life so that we can appreciate it and incorporate more of the good things into it
Food of the best sort

shonagonisms: times when I feel decadent

When I'm lotioning up my whole body with some new and lush-smelling lotion, and everything looks smooth and tight and better than ever while I do it

When I'm painting my nails

When I'm wearing expensive perfume and putting on my makeup

When I get to wear heels for no other reason than because I wanted to, even if I'm just going to the grocery store

When I'm eating perfectly fresh seasonal fruit and Greek yogurt

When I'm eating dense, rich European desserts at a table outside in the sun

When I drink wine in the afternoon

When I put on new clothes for the first time

When I'm lounging in bed, reading a trashy novel and eating chocolate

When the roses are blooming and I can bring them inside and leave the petals all over everything, including the bed and the cat

When I get to write racy scenes for my characters

shonagonisms: ways i know the universe wants us to be happy and decadent

One of the beast sources of antioxidants is a chocolate covered strawberry.

The existence of chocolate at all, and how well it goes with coffee, which comes from so far away.

The fact that baby animals are so soft and feel so nice rubbed against your cheek.

Fermented things are better for you and tastier than the sum of their parts. Wine and beer and cheese and bread and yogurt are all fermented.

Soft grass and warm sunshine, and the joy of laying in both while bees buzz around you.

Rose oil is one of the best oils for skin, and is a naturally intoxicating perfume.

Kissing someone you love is almost better than anything else.

Swimming naked in the ocean under a full moon in summer makes everyone beautiful.

The sheer variety of tea.

Beauty is everywhere.

shonagonisms: my newest obsessions include...

... the mere idea of a facial soap. Especially one with rose water, charcoal, or some other exotic ingredient my life doesn't normally include. Especially since my face is suddenly a nice thing with soft skin and pretty colors.

... makeup brushes. All of them, even if I don't know how to use them. I've always loved brushes and this only rekindles that love.

... doefoot applicators for lipsticks and glosses.

... lipgloss in general, especially if it smells nice.

... whole wheat toast with greek-yogurt cream cheese and gallberry honey. ::drool::

... getting all the parts and accessories I can for my new (hand-me-down) laptop-- for as cheap as humanly possible.

... the possibilities that exist for revamping my fishtank-- all the plants and statues and lights and other fish and snails and little electric-blue miniature lobsters!

... new, unread, unreleased books. Man, even if I can never make a living off of reviewing, I can totally continue doing it just for the book-snobbery.

... going back to school. It's all I think about-- and all I want to do right now.

... the upcoming trip to IKEA, and whether I'll be able to afford what I want.

... baking. I want to make cookies and bread, and if I didn't have to go to work in an hour, I'd already be all over that mess.

shonagonisms: things that i love include

... miso soup with crispy onions.

... the way trees look when I first wake up and look out my window, all blurry and upside down.

... the sweet warmth of a purring cat on my lap when I'm reading a good book

... baking. Anything.

... suddenly having time I didn't think I had.

... the first use of a new eyeshadow or lipstick. It's always a surprise, always an adventure.

... long socks pulled up over my knees.

... expensive chocolate, and the time to properly savor it, sex-noises and all.

... oolong tea.

... getting packages in the mail, even when I'm the one who ordered them.

... the first few pages of a new book, and the basking after the last few.

... vodka and cran with lime.

... guava wine with soda water. Well, really, almost anything guava.

... the last few seconds of landing in an airplane, when the ground is inevitable, but hasn't happened yet.

... mountains.

... watching roses open.

... fuzzy warm blankets when it's cold.

... finding out small an unexpected ways other cultures differ from ours.

... beautiful things that don't need to be beautiful but are anyway-- stools, bowls, wooden spoons, cake stands, ceiling rafters, stuff like that.

... misty weather and soft green grass by the sea.

shonagonisms: how i know that it's winter

- Even here in Florida, it's been cold enough that I can't sleep without three blankets and a cat.

- All the leaves are gone from the pecan tree where my room used to be, and the branches stand out like ink-lines against a paper sky.

- I feel the urge to subsist entirely on potatoes and home-made bread, to hoard food for the Cold Times, to sleep for two thirds of the day.

- My first impulse in food-making each dinner time is 'How about some soup?' and I'm desperately glad that I had the forethought to put up turkey broth and pumpkin broth at Thanksgiving and Halloween.

- My thoughts are turning internal, evaluating, planning, being less outwardly productive, but more inwardly constructive.

- The virginia creeper is all red and orange and has gone lacy with the cold.

- Acorns are everywhere, dying the streets saffron where cars have crushed them into flour.

- Oxalis is coming back up, and the grassy summer weeds are being replaced by wintercress as we speak.

- All the oranges all over the neighborhoods are bright orange and round and heavy, just waiting for a freeze.

- All the cats, and even the dog congregate around the heating vents and tolerate a much closer contact with each other.

- I feel the pull of an ancestral life, where winter is a rest from work and I should be able to bundle up with a hot cup of tea, and focus on a book or an embroidery.

shonagonisms: names i would like to give to a child

Lucas Alexander (Xander) ("light-bringer" "defender of mankind")

Jack

Owen

Jono Leander

Grey

Heath

Harper Dresden

Cameron Valentine

Constantine

Rhys

Malcolm Gregory (Mal)

Paisley Sagan

Poppy Allegra

Carter (for a girl)

Olivia

Brennan

Aveline Rose

Mellora Elise

Gwen

Gillian Morgana

Aryn Katrina

Blue

Gallifrey (Frey)

Finbar (Finn)

shonagonisms: moments when I feel connected to the grand history of all women

When I'm stripping all the flesh off a carcass to make stock to last us through the winter.

When I'm kneading the dough or leaving it covered in a dishtowel before making bread.

When I'm standing barefoot in the kitchen, making a yummy dinner.

When I'm standing barefoot in the garden, tending to plants that will make food for my family.

When I'm cooking up a batch of Winter Salve to keep the dryness from devastating my heels.

When I first lace up a new corset.

When I hold a brand-new baby.

When I'm putting on my makeup for a night out, and especially when I'm adding perfume.

When I'm in bed with someone I love, and almost, almost there.