Ok, I promised BG I'd do this... so here goes... the required "101 things about me" post that is expected of all bloggers at one time or another. Hope you're not majorly bored.
1. I talk really, really fast. Yes, really. It's a joke among those who know me.
2. I am allergic to fiberglass (makes me cough), bug sprays (make my throat swell shut), and frozen concentrate orange juice (gives me migraine auras).
3. I grew up on a farm in Ohio.
4. I am a klutz.
5. I once fell off of the stairs to our barn hay loft, and landed on a pig.
6. At age 4, I fell off of our horse when it started trotting.
7. I fell off of my cousin's bike in Detroit the summer after 4th grade. She left me in a strange yard, unconscious, with a concussion, and rode bike home to get our parents.
8. I once sprained my ankle by falling from the bottom step of a stepladder. The tool I was holding at the time was uninjured.
9. I have never had a professional manicure or pedicure.
10. I began cutting my own hair in 6th grade, and have done it pretty consistently ever since.
11. I also color it myself, and when I used to perm it occasionally, did that myself as well. I also cut my entire family's hair.
12. I have a 33" inseam.
13. I had braces twice. The second time around, my mom kept asking me when I would get my braces off. When I did, she didn't even notice.
14. I lived in Costa Rica for 3 months.
15. I was a math major.
16. I was valedictorian of my high school class. Of course, I had a very small class so I'm not sure if that was an accomplishment or not.
17. My favorite colors are red and royal blue.
18. I do not wear yellow or orange.
19. My hair is naturally curly, and has consistently gotten curlier ever since 5th grade.
20. I took piano lessons for 10 years.
21. I played flute for 9 years, and piccolo for 3 years. I decided as a kindergartener that I wanted to play piccolo.
22. I began to sew before I was in kindergarten. My Christmas gift at age 5 was a toy sewing machine that could really sew.
23. I made my first clothing for myself on the toy sewing machine... a skirt, when I was in 3rd grade. Prior to that, I sewed clothes for my dolls.
24. During high school, I took in sewing for people to earn money for college.
25. My first job was inventory at a fabric store. I had to count every button, zipper, spool of thread, etc.
26. My worst job was junior high and high school cafeteria monitor while I was in college. I didn't know the kids so I couldn't report those who misbehaved, and I looked young enough to be one of them. I got fired because I couldn't keep them under control.
27. I worked on a construction crew, building grain bins, etc one summer during college.
28. I never owned a car until my senior year in college. I even went grocery shopping on my 3-speed bike, and rode it to work in the winter during blizzards.
29. I have only ever lived in Ohio and Indiana, other than those 3 months in Costa Rica.
30. I grew up camping... in a tent... with my family of 9. It was a bit crowded. Two brothers and I had to share a double sleeping bag because there weren't enough bags (or space for more bags).
31. I have backpacked in the Canadian Rockies.
32. I have eaten bear. I was not impressed. I hope to not eat it again.
33. I am my dad's 3rd cousin, and therefore my children's 4th cousin.
34. I got my ears pierced in Costa Rica... with a needle and ice cube. It hurt. When I got home, my mom asked me what I did a stupid thing like that for.
35. I got my first perm as a senior in high school. I had been growing out my hair for months to get a long spiral perm. The girl chopped it off and gave me a short curly one. It was horrid. My dad asked me what I did a stupid thing like that for.
36. I try to never ask my kids what they did such a stupid thing for.
37. I have 5 brothers.
38. I used to love to climb trees. I have picked cherries from within a tree. I used to study in trees during college. I seldom climb trees now... I am not flexible enough. I still miss it, and do it occasionally.
39. I bit my nails until I was in 4th grade. Then I began carrying nail files everywhere and would file them whenever one broke. As long as they are smooth, I don't bite them. If they are rough, I still bite them.
40. The first time I had colored nail polish on was in 4th grade. My cousins did my nails. My mom made me scrape it off with my teeth because I had no polish remover and wasn't supposed to wear colored nail polish.
41. I love cats. I have always loved cats. Most of the pictures of me as a kid included cats. I got a cat as soon as I could after college... we had to put her to sleep a few years ago at age 15 1/2.
42. My second toe on my right foot is 2 inches long.
43. My second toe on my left foot is 1 5/8 inches long.
44. Several of my brothers would frequently offer to even them out (with a machete).
45. The only time I remember being spanked as a child was because I peed my pants. My mom was spanking me and I told her to stop because I had to pee. She didn't stop, and when I peed my pants, I got another spanking. I don't remember why I got spanked initially... I'm sure I deserved it. So I see no harm in giving kids a swat when they deserve it... it's only the undeserved ones or out of control ones that harm them.
46. I have 5 adopted neices and nephews.
47. My parents both had brown hair. All of my siblings have brown hair. Well... some of us are gray now... but we USED to have brown hair. All of us have had blonde children... even those who married people with brown hair.
48. I have 3 children. The smallest was 9 lb 4 oz at birth.
49. I prefer to go barefoot. Yet I own around 30 pairs of shoes.
50. I don't cut my fingernails until one breaks. Then I cut them all short. I can't stand one nail to be a different length than the others.
51. My sister had breast cancer 5 years ago.
52. I never knew my grandmother on my dad's side.
53. My mom has a twin brother.
54. I have 30 first cousins.
55. My feet are two different sizes... one is a full size larger than the other.
56. I have never had glasses, but I'm just now needing reading glasses. I can no longer see my nipples in focus and it drives me nuts.
57. *censored*
58. I never did my own laundry until I went to college. I didn't know how to run the washing machine, but I knew how to remove any stain that got on my clothing long before then.
59. My first date was my senior prom. I asked the guy.
60. Two guys turned me down when I asked them to my junior prom, so I went with my two best friends.
61. The only guy who asked me out in high school was named Merv. I turned him down several times, using the convenient excuse that I had to work. (It was true). My mom told me that if I kept doing that, he would stop asking. I told her that was the idea.
62. The senior prom guy was also the first guy I kissed... a month BEFORE the first date.
63. I made the dresses for both proms. I wore the junior prom dress as a maternity dress 11 years later, simply by removing the belt. Take my word for it... it was horrid.
64. I sing tenor.
65. I have always wanted to play saxophone, but my parents couldn't afford to buy one. So a few years ago, I got one at a garage sale. I still can't play it.
66. I like to play recorder, so I bought one on eBay a few years ago.
67. I like auctions.
68. I taught myself to tat after I got my grandmother's tatting shuttle. I have a doily half-finished, but would have to re-teach myself in order to finish it.
69. I love to read. Science fiction and crime novels are my favorites.
70. I collect toy sewing machines.
71. I also have collections of beanie babies and happy meal toys which I can't get rid of, but I no longer add to.
72. I like perennial gardening and hate vegetable gardening.
73. I bought my first computer in 1992. All our friends were drooling at our 486 D50 with 240 meg hard drive and 4 meg of RAM. That computer still works... the kids use it for games at my parents' house.
74. I first got online in 1996 while taking a programming class. My computer crashed, and I got a trial membership to CompuServe so I could download the new drivers I needed as I reloaded it. That membership gave me 10 hours a month. Now I often use that many hours in a day or two!
75. Our first baby died at about 8 weeks but didn't miscarry... the doctor found out when he ordered an ultrasound because he couldn't hear a heartbeat at 10 weeks.
76. I was hospitalized for dehydration with my second pregnancy. I got back to my starting weight at 20 weeks, and then gained 45 more pounds. I learned to really hate being pregnant!
77. I first got paid for babysitting in college. My neighbor lady used to ask mom if I could babysit, but didn't pay me for it.
78. I am not scared of heights. I am scared of spiders.
79. I am also scared of plugging in sweepers. (c'mon... you can't tell if they are on or off... sometimes people leave them on, and they spark as you plug them in. Plus the noise you're not expecting... instant adrenaline!)
80. I took lifesaving (swimming) when I was 14. The age limit was 15, and I turned 15 during the class. I was the smallest kid, and always got paired up with my 18 year old brother who didn't float.
81. I made my wedding dress and all of my bridesmaids' dresses.
82. I can sew well enough that people generally don't believe that I made something. But I seldom sew because I don't have time.
83. I have been in 7 accidents. The worst was about $1500 damage, and was never injured more than a little whiplash.
84. Two members of my family are quadriplegics.
85. I also have a brother who is epileptic. Once at a bar during college, this obnoxious guy began telling jokes. He told one about a quadriplegic, and I said, with a straight face, "I have a brother who is a quadriplegic." He apologized, and calmed down for a few minutes. Soon after, he told another joke, this time about an epileptic. I again said with a straight face, "I have a brother who is an epileptic." He replied, "I thought you said your brother was a quadriplegic." When I told him that it was two different brothers, he shut up the rest of the evening. I still laugh about shutting him up!
86. I have a very sarcastic sense of humor. People often think I am mad when I'm just joking.
87. I will always choose to use copies of my IM conversations with BG if I feel the chat presents a great blog topic. (BG wrote this one for me.)
88. I used to hate to write. I majored in math, mostly because math classes didn't have to write term papers.
89. I began college as an el ed major. Then I decided I didn't much like kids.
90. My mom insisted I needed to get a teaching degree with my math major because, in her words, "what else can you do with a math major than teach?" I didn't get a teaching degree.
91. I met my husband at a factory where I worked part-time during college. I put a card in his car after work one day, signed with only my phone number. He called me.
92. My dad has had 5 hip replacements.
93. I once drove a hay rake up the tire of a tractor while trying to rake hay. I never was asked to drive tractor again. This was an accident, but a fortuitious one.
94. I once ran the riding lawn mower into a hay wagon when my brother tried to get me to drive it in 3rd gear. After that he let me drive at my speed. This was not totally an accident.
95. I get grumpy when I don't get enough 'alone' time. My oldest son is the same way.
96. I hate mornings. They start out too early in the day for me.
97. I drank 3-4 cups of coffee per day while I lived in Costa Rica. I did not drink coffee before, and probably less than a dozen times since.
98. Most of my best friends are people I met online.
99. Most of my best friends are guys. I don't generally understand women or get along with them.
100. *censored*
101. I am a perfectionist. I've been called other things as well. I only admit to perfectionist.
