Happy Friday!

It's time for my favorite Friday game...Five Question Friday (or 5QF, for us "cool kids!"). Head on over to Mama M's Five Crooked Halos to find out how you can join in! Whether you join in or not - please, leave your comments - I love when we can share our opinions about these questions!!! So, grab your cup of coffee (or can of pop or water or whatever your bevvy of choice is) and let's dish!

1. What's your guilty pleasure?

Down time. It's a guilty pleasure because I ALWAYS have a backlog of things to do - my ministry in-box always has things in it, and since it's on my desk in the house (right next to me right now, glaring at me, actually) it is a presence I cannot ignore - as much as the continual laundry, dishes, and other household chores - you know THAT drill, right?

So, every once in a while, I play hookey. I check out. It's usually not my fault - it's usually Shelly's. (Are you reading this Shelly? Don't think I'm blaming you...I know you're grinning, anyhow...I thank you, dear partner in crime.) It's not very often, but once in a while, my spontaneous friend will call and say "Let's _____________!" You can fill in the blank with "go to a movie, have breakfast in Bayport, go to Goodwill, watch a video" - it doesn't matter. That is my guilty pleasure. I ignore everything else - and I have to! It's my sanity. Because there's always SOMETHING! (And, if I'm especially responsible that day - and it happens about 50% of the time - well, 35% - I ask for a rain check.) I'm a planner - and Shelly is not. And, it does me plenty good to live that way once in a while. My soul NEEDS it. Ahhhhh....Pleasure is good. Everyone should have a Shelly who gives them permission to have fun. It feels naughty...but in a good way! My inner child gets locked up and is banging at the door of my weary soul sometimes, just begging Shelly to call. I blame Shelly, but everyone reading this knows it's my choice. I can hear Shelly saying right now, "I don't care - blame me...wanna go to a movie?"

2. What is your favorite TV series?

I'm actually embarrassed to write this, but Desperate Housewives used to be my favorite. Not so much as of late - I thought I could ignore certain obvious aspects of the show...nope. I am a writer at heart, so I enjoy entertaining characters - and this show has 'em! I feel like there are a few unwholesome themes in the show, but my thinking was, "I'm a big girl and can look past them." I enjoy the backstory of the mystery in each season - first, the Mystery of "Why did Mary Alice kill herself?" and then "What did her husband have to do with it?" and it all took off from there. I'm really enjoying trying to figure out the newest members of Wysteria Lane (I'm convinced the mom -Angie, is it? - is the one who strangled Julie!). I love a good who-dunnit, and the writers do a GOOD JOB! But, with that said, the latest immoral development to the story line may be a little too over the top for me. I watch the show for the story, not for the scant outfits! I'm not a prude, but - well, if you saw it, you'd know what I was talking about! Like I said - I'm a big girl and can look past some stuff for a good story...but I have my limits. Last week should have been rated R. I couldn't believe it was on t.v.! I think my intrigue for the story line has been overtaken by my disgust of all the smut. I can't ignore it any more. I have to stop watching. Good bye, Wysteria Lane!

In that case, my second fave is "Castle." Have you ever seen that? (Good story - nothing to have to look past...) It's about a mystery writer (Rick Castle) who gets to job-shadow a female police officer. There, of course, is an underlying romantic spark between them that is denied - for now. If you're a police officer, you'll hate it, because it's hokey from a police officer's point of view (my mom was a cop, and she'd be pulling out all the flaws about what a law enforcement agency would not allow if she saw it, I can hear her now...) - but, if you're a writer or a writer-wanna-be, this would be your dream! It's horribly far-fetched - the mayor is a fan of the writer, so he orders the cop to let him job-shadow, and the writer writes a series of (somewhat steamy) books using the female cop as a model for his main character. "Castle" carries with it good elements of stories I love - mystery (Castle helps his cop solve a murder each week), well-developed characters and the possibility of romance. (Sometimes the romance that isn't embarked on yet is even better than one in full swing!) If you haven't checked that one out, you can on http://www.abc.com/ - I watch episodes when I iron clothes! Hyperion publishing actually has published a mystery with his main character, by Richard Castle (pen name) and uses the actor at signings - it's been on the best seller's list, I've heard! Very tricky! (And, good sales work!)

3. Can you speak any foreign languages?

No. I wish I would have taken Spanish in High School. "Back in the day" that and French were the only two foreign languages offered...and we didn't get them until High School...and it was strictly optional...and I had to walk six miles to school...uphill...both ways!

My seventh grader has Spanish I, German I and Intro to Mandarin Chinese! All in the same year! Next year, she will continue on in Spanish or German - or both! And, Chinese is an elective. I think we've come a long way, baby!

4. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Okay, in defense of my answer - I LOVE shoes! They are non-judgemental! Your shoe size does not declare whether you are thin or fat! I love that. I cannot actually answer this question accurately, because my summer things are packed away with my out-of-season clothes. I can tell you, however, that I have a dozen pairs of winter shoes in my closet (I counted), three pairs of boots and two pairs of slippers. Yes, I wear them all. I know that for a fact because I recently purged all the stuff from my closet that I don't wear. I have way more summer shoes, though. I love sandals and flip flops. And, yes - I wear all of them, too!

5. What's your favorite kind of M&M's...peanut, almond, straight up regular, etc.?

Peanut. Yummy!

I'm also participating in the "Friday Follow" celebration hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades! They invite you to join us every Friday to get more blog followers and to follow other interesting blogs. It is all about sharing and having fun.

Click on either of their links to show you how YOU can join the blog hop!

Have a great weekend!