100 Things Nobody Really Needs to Know About Me

1. I am a Jill of many trades: involvement ministry, children's ministry, childbirth educator, piano teacher, homeschool mom, doula, community volunteer, writer, etc.
2. God has blessed me with two children, Kacey & Kevin, who are my world.
3. Naming my children was merely a formality. I only call them things like, “Sweet Cheeks; Honey Buns; Love Britches; Sugar Toot; Daughter-Face; Boy Junior; Little Man; etc.”
4. My parents are wonderful. . . I have my dad's brain and my mom's mouth. :o)
5. My younger sister, Stacey Leigh, was my best girlfriend and only sibling. She died in a car crash when she was 28. I cannot think of her without crying. I cannot wait to see her again. My daughter, Kacey Leigh, is named after her and sometimes looks very much like her.
6. I give my kids points for using big words or answering trivia questions. When they can prove they've earned 1,000,000 points, I will by them a car.
7. I tend to call people by their full names, or, if that doesn’t work, their first & middle names.
8. I don’t collect anything. In fact, I don’t keep anything. If it hasn’t been used in the last few weeks, it’s outta here! (Except for leftovers, which usually grow green fuzz before getting tossed.)
9. I have moved 24 times – Memphis; Tulsa; Longview TX; Mobile AL; Nashville; & Anchorage are among the list – though I was born in Kentucky, moved away, came back to graduate High School, moved away again, & now live back here. Full circle.
10. If I could live anywhere, it would be somewhere on the coast. Oregon, maybe.
11. I HATE to read instructions. I am totally dependent on my 14-year-old son to program the dvd recorder, replace the ink cartridge in my printer, and un-jam the copy machine.
12. I have “a thing” for guys in glasses.
13. I have "a thing" for Scottish accents.
14. I am oblivious to vehicles. If my life depended on it, I couldn’t tell you what anybody around me drives.
15. I have read through the entire series of “Little House on the Prairie” books 7 or 8 times.
16. I love to analyze people and try to figure out why they are all so much more difficult than I am.
17. I love email and texting!
18. I HATE talking on the phone. HATE.
19. I am terrible about keeping up with old friends (reference #18) But I really, really, really miss my best Anchorage friends, Neal & Sherri, who still live in Alaska.
20. We do not have cable or internet (at home). Upon discovering this, one of Kacey’s boyfriends asked her if we were Amish. True story.
21. No matter where I am, my husband will always track me down. I’ve decided to think of it as endearing rather than controlling.
22. My long-term memory is amazing. My short-term memory is . . . what was I talking about? 23. I was blessed to be a stay-at-home, homeschool mom for most of 17 years - it was the best.
24. My birthday is October 24th. So every day, (yeah, pretty much every day) when we notice 10:24 on the clock I yell, “It’s ten-twenty-four!” My children sing this goofy little birthday song to me. It’s required.
25. Now that I'm "over 40", I am reluctantly codependent on my reading glasses.
26. I am completely and happily committed to my purse.
27. I never remember to shop for baby showers. Inevitably, I will shop ½ hour before the shower, buying wrapping paper, tape and bows and doing the gift-wrapping in the parking lot. I will ALWAYS forget to buy a tag or card, so during the shower I’m yelling, “That’s from me!” Why do I do this?
28. I love thunderstorms and snow and autumn.
29. If you know who Lynne Truss, Amy Sherman-Palladino, and Nora Ephron are, we are probably already good friends.
30. One can never have too many cool, clicky ink pens.
31. I am the least sympathetic mother I know. Even if it’s a fairly serious illness/injury I take the “oh, suck it up and stop your whining” approach. That’s my way of coping when I’m not able to “fix it”, but that doesn’t comfort my children when they are bleeding or tossing their cookies. However, I am immensely sympathetic to those outside my family. ???
32. I have book A.D.D. - I can have as many as 7 books going at one time and rarely finish any of them.
33. I have worn the same pair of black leather, rabbit-lined gloves for the last 21 winters. My mom sent them to me when I first moved to Alaska. I love them.
34. The concept of the 18-hour bra baffles me. What happens if you wear it 19 hours?
35. I love road trips, but I prefer to be the driver. I think it’s a control thing.
36. In High School, I was the yearbook editor, newspaper editor, speech club vice president, and student director of the band.
37. Disney World really is the happiest place on earth.
38. I could be very happy living in an apartment permanently – I like the small spaces, the sense of community, and the wonderful lack of yard work.
39. I want an iPod really badly.
40. Drawing house plans is my preferred multi-tasking project while I watch tv.
41. My favorite food is pasta.
42. I have a passion for literature, and I’m especially fond of children’s literature. I have read “Goodnight Moon” and “Where the Wild Things Are” a minimum of 1500 times each. (2 kids X every night for 2 years = well, you do the math.)
43. Jane Eyre is my favorite novel, I've read it four times.
44. I frequently break into song for no apparent reason.
45. Yes, I have had my heart broken. Wouldn't wish that pain on my worst enemy. If I had one. Which I don't.
46. I had straight A’s in high school except for the "A" subjects: Algebra & Art. Go figure.
47. On Sunday afternoons, I used to always nap. Now it seems all we have are what I call "Marathon Sundays". Whatever happened to the concept of sabbath?
48. I am a consummate pest and thoroughly enjoy embarrassing my kids.
49. Every night, after Kevin goes to bed, I flip the light on in his room (well, actually it’s his sister’s room ‘cause that’s where he’s sleeping since she left for college). Anyway. . . I flip the light on just long enough for the glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars to shine. Then I flip the light back off and say “PWETTY Stars”. Every night.
50. I’m convinced that Ephesians 6:4a does NOT apply to mothers. Look it up.
51. I bite my cuticles. A lot.
52. I started dating my husband after he broke into my dorm room, trashed it, and blamed it on someone else. What was I thinking???
53. My son said I’m the nicest person he knows. And he said it with a straight face. I think that must mean he doesn’t know very many people.
54. I spend a lot of time in the car.
55. I would like to learn sign language.
56. I love dark chocolate, hot tea, popcorn, cranberry-walnut bread, seafood anything, & almond biscotti.
57. I love trying new restaurants and new food - especially Asian food.
58. I have been a certified childbirth educator and doula. I have been blessed to be part of several births. I missed my calling as a midwife/obstetrician.
59. My second child was born at home. Yes, on purpose.
60. I really like toddlers and teens, but I am not a fan of other people’s babies. Go figure.
61. I did the whole “Earth Mother” thing for about a decade – complete breastfeeding, organic foods, recyclable products, homeschooling, etc. In fact, I nursed Kevin until he could unbutton things on his own, and began homeschooling Kacey back when people asked, “Is that LEGAL?” My family used to ask me when I "got weird".
62. I used to play the piano and was 1st chair clarinet in band for 6 out of 8 years.
63. When I was a Brownie Girl Scout in Nashville, I had to kiss the governor of Tennessee for a newspaper photo op. I was mortified.
64. I never get tired of listening to Carole King, Simon & Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Elton John, and Carly Simon. I am such a child of the 70’s.
65. I’m a compulsive multi-tasker.
66. Kevin is teaching me to play chess. It’s really hard to multi-task while playing chess.
67. I was voted “Outstanding Citizen” by my senior class. All that means is I wasn’t “Most Talented”, “Most Likely to Succeed”, or “Best Looking”.
68. I always clean the kitchen and start a load of laundry before I go to bed.
69. I rarely make my bed. Seems like such an exercise in futility.
70. I love to play games (except Monopoly!), and I especially like to play cards with friends.
71. I especially-especially like to play “Scene It, Shout About the Movies, and Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” with Kacey.
72. I work logic problems for fun.
73. Sometimes I feel an overwhelming urge to bite someone. Anyone. I don’t know why.
74. I’m irresistibly drawn to organizers and storage containers of all shapes and sizes. To quote Jerry McGuire, they "complete me".
75. I don't enjoy being at home nearly as much as I used to.
76. I LOVE my jobs.
77. When I grow up, I hope to find something productive to do with myself.
78. I’m love my traditional Church of Christ background, and, even more, I loved breaking out of it.
79. The treadmill in my bedroom makes a great clothes rack.
80. When I was in junior high, I kept scrapbooks on Shaun Cassidy, Barry Manilow and the Bay City Rollers.
81. Clearly, I don’t embarrass easily.
82. Sarcasm rules, and I am the reigning queen.
83. I get really excited when I watch a film with good editing.
84. I am a complete videophile, but I only like watching a movie with someone else who enjoys it, or someone who has never seen it but I think will enjoy it. Watching movies alone doesn’t work for me. I’d rather read or browse the internet.
85. I wish I’d had more children.
86. I dream that one day the bathroom project that began in 1995 will actually be completed. Mind you, it’s only a dream.
87. I explained the “birds and the bees” to my daughter when she was 5 - at her request.
88. Tomatoes are vegetables not fruit, I don’t care what they say. Fruit tastes GOOD.
89. My husband and I have absolutely NOTHING in common. We’re like Eddie Albert & Eva Gabor. But with WAY less jewelry. Welcome to Green Acres.
90. My favorite shoes are: NONE. I like my bare feet.
91. Scrapbooking is my creative outlet. Plus, cropping is very therapeutic. Especially if you crop off the heads of people you don’t like.
92. I love jazz bands, Broadway musicals, Drum Corps competitions, and symphonies.
93. I graduated from the University of Alaska, with a journalism major and photography minor. 94. I can’t tell (or remember) a joke to save my life.
95. If there is a contest drawing or a door prize, my name will usually be the one drawn. I’m just lucky that way.
96. I could live in a Borders or Barnes & Noble bookstore. Though, after a couple of days, I might miss showering.
97. I do not understand the concept of indoor pets. They smell, shed, cost money, chew, pass gas, and bark. But, come to think of it, so do boys.
98. Tulips, all colors, are my favorite flowers.
99. According to Stanford-Binet, my IQ is 152. But, then, they don’t know that sometimes I’ll wear my shirt inside-out all day and never notice.
100. My favorite scripture is Philippians 2:5-15. After writing 100 things, I still know: It’s not about me.