slyver's profile

I've lived in so many places. My mother and brother are in Oswego, NY. I also have family in Germany, North Carolina and Georgia. My husband's family is in Knoxville, IL. And we currently live in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis.

I am an Army brat and a former Army wife, with my roots in upstate New York, where my Italian father grew up, and in Berlin, the birthplace of my mother, where I spent most of my own childhood as well. I hate winter, and I live in Minnesota. Blame that one on love.

My twenty-five year old daughter, who will be having her first baby the end of this summer, has set up housekeeping within driving distance, and my twenty-one year old son still resides at home, and probably will continue to until either his prostate fails or the draft is reinstated. Both still believe in the Bank of Mom, although their credit has been suspended and will likely remain that way. Both also still love their momma very much, which makes momma's edicts just so much hot air.

Things I love? Laughter. Sunny days. Digging in the dirt. Riding my Townie. Scented baths. Writing. Playing with graphics. Naps. Second chances. High thread count sheets. The antics of my cats. Exploring. My family. My friends. Karaoke. Good food.

That last one has been a challenge since my husband's heart attack in November of 2007. I will always be a foodie. Now I have to be twice as creative about it, though, because we're both committed to a more healthful lifestyle. I like the boy. I want to keep him around for a long time.

Things I don't love, in others or myself? Pettiness. Assumptions. Grudges. So there you go. And here I am. The door's open.

(Profile credits: Frank Lloyd Wright for the stained glass background. The painting on my banner is "La Belle Dormeuse" by Tamara de Lempicka. The fact that everything sort of matches is just dumb luck.)

gardening, walking, napping, baths, traveling, genealogy, writing, laughing, singing, getting healthy, working out, creating layouts, pushing the envelope

The Minnesota AIDS Project, the ALS Society, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, anything local, especially the arts

soft jazz, Dixieland, R & B, torch songs, opera, classical, southern rock

House MD, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, American Idol, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Scrubs, Will and Grace, anything on the Science and Nature channels

What Dreams May Come, Independence Day, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steel Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatoes, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Berlin, Nuremberg, anywhere near the ocean