Facts from the Rubbish

Wow...three guesses, each with a different guess!

Here's the truth....

My Sweet Baboo went to work for McDonnell-Douglas in Huntington Beach, CA straight out of college; I went out to visit him for his birthday just before we got engaged...and, any trip to a town with 'beach' in it's name must include a trip to the actual beach, so I waded briefly in the water there.

I've been to the Gulf coast two or three times; it's a good day's drive from The Rocket City, but not beyond reach. I'm actually counting that as the Atlantic Ocean, because our trip to Jacksonville, Florida took place in December of 2000, when a really strong cold front happened to come through and, while we took the kids to the beach, we kept on our shoes (and our winter coats!). I didn't make it to the beach at all on a later trip to Jacksonville. But, hey, the Gulf is part of the Atlantic Ocean, so it works.

The second one is false. Claire had the right guess! I had pen pals in about 4 different countries when I was in high school...the US, Japan, Ireland, and Andorra (a teeny country tucked into the border of France and... Spain. I had to look it up; it's been 30+ years...), but it would have really been a stretch to have correspondents in 13 different countries! Do kids even do pen-pals anymore, or is it all Internet communication now?

I think the year I won the Betty Crocker award (ETA a couple of days later...my memory is now finally recollecting that the actual new name was the 'General Foods Family Leader of Tomorrow'...they dropped Betty with the 'homemaker'....) was the first year for the new name. I was sick the day they planned to make the award at an assembly...I don't know what the purpose for the assembly was, but they were going to recognize me in front of the student body for my achievement. Instead, I got called to the principal's office during announcements the following week. I went with great trepidation, wondering what I had done wrong to warrant a trip to The Office. You could have knocked me over with a serger tail when he handed me the award and shook my hand. I had pretty much forgotten about even taking the test; I couldn't remember a single question from it, just that it struck me as being stuff my Grandmother told me.

So, Claire wins the bragging rights for this round! Thanks for guessing, everyone!