Now We Are Six

Lauren tagged me for this; it was hard to come up with six things that didn't replicate my 100 things list!

Here are the rules of the tag, followed by my answers:

The Rules:
1) Link to the person that tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6) Let the fun begin!

1. I have rather particular habits when it comes to the preparation of tea. Hot water (preferably from a kettle, not heated in the microwave) must be poured OVER the tea bag/leaves; filling a cup with water and then adding the tea bag/leaves is absolutely unacceptable. I like the tea to steep for four minutes (I usually drink black tea; for green, white, or red tea the steeping time varies a bit). When the brewing completes, I remove the tea bag, squeezing it out with a spoon to get the last drops of flavor. Sugar, if I want it, must get stirred in before milk or cream, because I have this notion that it won't dissolve as well after the addition of milk. When brewing tea for more than one person, I adore using this teapot of ours.

2. When my husband travels for work (like he is right now), I eat horribly and tend to stay up all hours of the night reading. I'll have things like popcorn for dinner (if I have dinner at all). I can't fall asleep very easily without him beside me, so I try to lull myself to bed with a book - but with no one to ask me to turn the light off, I often just keep reading!

3. I love to cook, but I hate getting my hands dirty. This means I wash my hands between almost every step of a recipe, and I handle food very delicately so as to touch it minimally. Strangely enough, I don't wash my hands much any other time than when I cook.

4. When I drive and listen to the radio, I often use the fingers of one hand to spell in sign language the words that I hear in news reports or in songs. It started as a way to practice the sign alphabet and get quicker at using it, but now it's just a subconscious habit.

5. Apparently, I give unusual pronunciations to the words "both" and "what." I've been told that I say the first "bolth" (which I find somewhat embarrassing, although I can't really hear it when I say it). Someone also pointed out that I enunciate the "w" and the "h" in question words, making "what" into two syllables; I'm not quite sure how I do this.

6. I have a minor passion for paper goods. Stationary, notes, invitations, journals, calendars, recipe cards, paper plates and napkins, etc. - I'm drawn to them and would probably buy a bazillion of them all if I weren't tempered by a streak of practicality that limits me to what I can actually use. Picking out invitations was one of my favorite aspects of wedding planning. Finishing a journal and getting to pick out a new one thrills me.

Let's see, I'll tag In Search of Morning Sickness, who could probably use the distraction while her husband's deployed, and Katie, who may not have time with two under 2 right now, and Jon, a newcomer to the infertility blogging community, and anyone else who hasn't done this already but would like to do so.