Thirteen Thursday: 13 Messages after the Beep
1. My husband is a good sport, when I call him up at work and say, “Call me back and leave a message. The answering machine is about to have 13 messages and I want to take a picture of it,” he understands and is happy to oblige.
2. This past November when my sister Kathy called to tell me the shocking news that my father had died, I took the phone into the bathroom, closed the door, and sat on the floor as if I wanted to be near the toilet in case I was going to be sick.
3. My all-time favorite answering machine message was one of my dad’s. In his best Irish Gangster Boston accent, he simply said, “State your business.”
4. I’ve recently recovered from an infestation of mice in my house. I guess somebody has built a better mouse trap. It’s called poison.
5. When my girlfriend Juniper and her boyfriend were over for dinner last week, she insisted that we watch my wedding video (taken up on the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1996) because she had never seen it. It was my first time seeing my father in film since he passed away last November. The image of us doing our father and daughter dance is now replaying in my mind over and over.
6. I think Juniper wanted to watch the video to show her boyfriend how we live in Floyd, or maybe she wanted to give him a hint.
7. The highlight of the week, besides getting my first ever SCRABBLE BINGO was selling 5 of my books to one person. I love when that happens, and I love to watch the book ripple out and fulfill its higher purpose.
8. Best line seen in the blogsphere this week at Rocks in my Dryer: The other night, my oldest son was reading a book, when he asked, “What does gossip mean?” My Hubs, without so much as a pause, said, “Son, it’s another word for BLOG!”
9. Favorite email this week from my husband: Call me if you’re coming in to get your hair cut. We may stick a chair in your trunk.
10. Favorite blog heading quote seen this week at The Jake Silver Show: Be yourself. Everybody else is already taken.
11. Congratulations to the winners of the Share the Love Blog Awards. Go on over and meet some new friends.
12. I’m a little phone phobic. I put off making calls and usually don’t like to answer the phone. I think my aversion can be traced back to when I was a girl; when a boy would call me up, I’d just sit there on the other end with nothing to say. But it may be genetic. I’m not the only one in my family who is like this.
13. Before I became a foster care provider and had to have professional messages on my answering machine, people used to call me up just to hear my answering machine messages, like this one:
Hello…Hello…Oh… I’m in the past and you’re in the present, but if you leave a message, I’ll get back to you in the future.
Leave a message for Nicole at Just the Girl Next Door. She is the 13 Thursday host and keeps the game plan and master list.
March 2nd, 2006 9:03 am
How I wish I could steal your answering machine message. But alas, we too must maintain the appearance of professionalism. Sigh.
March 2nd, 2006 9:06 am
This is a wonderful TT! I love your nr 13 and I remember reading nr 10! great! my (very short) TT is up. Have a lovely day.
March 2nd, 2006 9:07 am
Yes, I also hate to have generic messages in case someone without a sense of humour should happen to call….
March 2nd, 2006 9:36 am
so…um…did you get a chair stuck in your trunk???
god i hate it when that happens…hee hee
March 2nd, 2006 9:41 am
Love that message.
I don’t know if I have video of my sister. Hmmm…we must.
Another great list!
March 2nd, 2006 10:00 am
great TT!
I have to say, the photos you use for your TT header are great!!
my TT are up!
March 2nd, 2006 10:45 am
I’m glad to hear that you were able to take care of that mice problem. 🙂
I used to have a funny message on my machine, but I found that my brother would take as an invitation to fill up my answering machine with meaningless noises.
Got my TT up!
March 2nd, 2006 11:07 am
Greetings from another phonephobe. Enjoyed your list – Mine is posted too. Please accept my condolences on the loss of your father. Mine has been gone almost 20 years, but sometimes the loss still feels terribly fresh.
March 2nd, 2006 12:05 pm
Same here with the phone. I’m just lucky that Jeni likes to talk on the phone.
My 13 is up at my new Blog address
March 2nd, 2006 12:20 pm
lol to your husband on #8!!!
i’m doing the tt too.
March 2nd, 2006 1:03 pm
My favorites:
#1, Great idea.
# 2, because I’m mentioned.
#3, because that message was one of dad’s best “just being dad” kind of messages.
#7, I couldn’t imagine it.
#8, I laughed at this one.
#11, I offer my congrats as well.
#12, I’m phone phobic too. I wish I knew why.
#13, Because you sure had some good messages.
One of my favorite answering machine stories was when my daughter Beth was young and answering machines were new. She called a friend, whom she had met on the bus going to and from school. The little girl gave Beth her phone number and when she got home she called to see if the little gitl could come over.
First call: “Can what’s-her- name come over.”
Second call only minutes later:
“I forget her name is but she sits with me on the bus. Can she come over?”
Third call: “My name is Beth.”
March 2nd, 2006 1:06 pm
I had such a good time last night that I completely forgot today was Thursday and so I didn’t get my 13 up before I went to bed. 🙁
Thanks for stopping by.
I always love reading your posts. You are sooo creative. 🙂
March 2nd, 2006 1:47 pm
My hubby and I once made an answering machine message that had callers in stitches. Even those who dialed incorrectly would say how much they enjoyed the message. That was fun 🙂
March 2nd, 2006 1:50 pm
I posted my 2nd TT of all times…
Wow your popular… 13 messages?
March 2nd, 2006 3:00 pm
I had to laugh at #1 because that sounds like something I would do and something my hubby would oblige to. LOL
And I commend you for being able to watch a video of you and your dad together. I know there are 2 video tapes of my sister before she died floating around. I just can’t bring myself to watch them yet.
Thanks for visiting my 13.
March 2nd, 2006 3:14 pm
Sorry neither of us won an award….LOL. I voted for you.
March 2nd, 2006 3:55 pm
#1 made me laugh.
#2 made me cry.
#5 made me gasp. Some day I’m going to write about developing a roll of film of my dad’s about 2.5 years (took me that long to work up the emotional courage) after he’d died.
March 2nd, 2006 4:05 pm
This one inspired me to start thinking about a new answering machine message. Our power blinked a while ago, and since then we’ve had the generic message that came with the machine. A fun idea!
March 2nd, 2006 4:51 pm
I had a friend, who had a friend, who could do a perfect impersonation of Jimmy Stewart. My message for the last 18 years has been: (in Jimmy Stewart halting almost stutter voice)
“This is Roxanne’s Uncle Jimmy.
She..she can’t come to the phone right now.
But she left me a message to give to you
If .. if you happened to call to talk to her
But.. but it seems to have slipped my mind.
So just leave your name and number after thee little beep
And I’m real sure she’ll get.. get back with you.
Thank you for calling.
I’ve had people call and ask me not to answer so they can listen to it. Go figure.
March 2nd, 2006 6:03 pm
I’ve always enjoyed your 13 Thursdays! This one is no exception.
I think it’s a really good thing that you watched the video in good company and saw your dad. It’s just another one of those “firsts” we eventually have to endure after the passing of a loved one. Bound to happen – hurtful in an abstract way – marvelous deep inside, even if we haven’t arrived at the point in which we can realize it yet; a semi-sweet rite of passage.
March 2nd, 2006 7:50 pm
Very clevah !
March 2nd, 2006 10:28 pm
I always love the Thursday 13 pictures you have Colleen. This was inspired..But, truthfully, they all are! Always a wonderful thing to visit you and read what you are thinking and feeling…
March 2nd, 2006 10:52 pm
I liked those. You really thought before you just put something out there. I loved the chair in your trunk. I loved your dad’s message…and I hope it wasn’t too sad watching you and your dad dance. I hope it made your heart full.
March 3rd, 2006 8:01 am
i like the gossip/blog answer.
I use to put funny things on my answering machine. I hate those machines and it was just a way to make it playful. My boss use to get mad at me, but he wasn’t paying the bill. He really didn’t like the one about me being in jail and telling folks to leave a message and I’d call back when I raised bail (also offering them an opportunity to contribute). No one ever contributed.
March 3rd, 2006 8:30 am
#9 almost sounds like some of that Cockney rhyming slang you wrote about.
March 3rd, 2006 8:02 pm
I loved #13! You’re very creative and funny! I hope you can come up with a list of your answering machine messages 🙂
Happy weekend 🙂
March 4th, 2006 10:27 am
The picture is well worth the visit. Great list.
My TT is up.
March 9th, 2006 8:40 pm
I stole that line from a Church Bulletin board thing… you know that big sign thing that churches have out front? — as we drove by on a Detail to Alabama one Saturday.