Okay, okay, 100 things

I know I'm late to this blogging deal and I know that everyone on the planet has already done their 100 Things About Me and so, technically, I could skip this and no one would care. Or know. But it's such a good exercise. I've been thinking about it for weeks. It's really hard to come up with 100 things about yourself that are remotely interesting. And maybe these aren't even interesting.

It's also really hard not to lie and I'm not even someone who lies often or well.

1. My hair is longer than it's ever been in my life. My husband likes long hair and I don't much care. I will say that I am noticing this year how HOT my hair makes me.

2. I have never dyed my hair. Well, unless you count lemon juice as a teenager.

3. I love to get pedicures with that red OPI nail polish called, "I'm Not Really A Waitress Red." I know this is a very unusual girlish thing for me to love but I just do.

4. I was born in Germany on an American Air Force Base in 1965. This was greatly confusing to me as a child because my dad was in the Army. I mean, why wasn't it an Army base?

5. I was born with my left foot pressed up against my shin, which, it turns out, led to my recent drastic foot reconstruction (at the age of 42).

6. I have an extremely high pain tolerance but my feelings are easily hurt.

7. I have type AB negative blood.

8. My mother is native German and met my American father on a blind date.

9. I am actually very shy but few people know it because I am an Army brat and developed camouflage because of this.

10. I don't really have a favorite color but I LOVE color. I alternate between greens and blues and the occasional purple as my favorite.

11. Until I was in my forties, I never thought of myself as creative. I always thought that any creativity was a fluke and I could never repeat that effort. Six million rabbits out of a hat and I still didn't believe.

12. I have had four dogs in my lifetime and I still have two of them.

13. I could live without television and not think twice. If I was a single parent, I wouldn't have a TV in the house. It's too easy for me to use it as distraction for the kids when I'm at my wit's end, instead of teaching them other ways to entertain themselves. I would never watch TV at all if it wasn't for HGTV.

14. I hate the phrase "My bad."

15. I dislike those weird "emoticons" that people use in e-mail, although I have used them on occasion.

16. If it weren't for mosquitoes, I would spend almost all of daylight hours and a good portion of the night hours outside.

17. I have never grown a really good tomato. I aspire.

18. Being too hot makes me stupid.

19. I cannot do math unless it has a dollar sign in front of the numbers.

20. I am a terrible sleeper and I rarely sleep through the entire night.

21. I always thought I was a really fast reader until I met my husband. And my daughter Ana, 9, is faster than both of US.

22. I've always wanted to be able to play the guitar.

23. I hate to dust but I like to vacuum.

24. I was a vegetarian for ten years.

25. I hate to talk on the phone. In fact, I am a bit phone phobic. I have no idea where this comes from.

26. My ears are both double-pierced but I rarely wear earrings.

27. Most of my jewelry was made for me by my friend Lisa.

28. I can sing.

29. I have small bones. (I know, it's a shock.)

30. I love how some old ladies wear gloves when they drive to protect their hands.

31. I've often felt that I was born out of time --that I should live in a slower-paced time. I would have made a good 1950's woman. I'm built that way, physically, too.

32. I worry that I drink too much.

33. I think I have a gift of making people feel good about themselves and their choices.

34. I rarely feel that good about my own.

35. I am a good kisser --or so I've been told.

36. I have never run out of gas in my car.

37. I own my own wet saw for cutting tile.

38. I love gummy bears but only the Haribo brand. I think other gummy bears are gross.

39. If I could, I would have fresh sheets every day.

40. My father was electrocuted in Viet Nam when I was five.

41. I still miss him.

42. I love my step dad as one of the most gentle and smartest people I have ever known. I think he's a wonderful father.

43. After more than eleven years, I am still wildly attracted to my husband.

44. Before my relationship with him, I worried that I had a problem with commitment.

45. I am very clean but not very organized.

46. I love to get mail addressed to me --real mail, not junk mail or computer generated mail.

47. I am terrible at sending other people thoughtful little cards or letters or even Christmas cards. Sometimes I buy them and write them and still don't send them. I have no idea where this comes from--I was raised with more manners than that.

48. I am allergic to sulfa drugs.

49. I love red bell peppers. You know... I mean, as a food.

50. I cannot type. At all. Every time I figure out one typing tic, I develop another. This has a bigger impact than I would have thought on my creativity.

51. It's not environmentally correct but I love having a real fire in my fireplace. I do it if the temperature drops below 60 degrees.

52. I have too much grief for this world sometimes. It is incapacitating.

53. I have a very distinct sense of style. I'm just not sure it's a good one.

54. I do not want a tattoo. I think they are ugly.

55. I had the chicken pox and I had shingles once, but I do not get cold sores.

56. I look good in hats and sunglasses. Separately or together.

57. My very favorite time of the day (and night) is 11:11. Every time I catch it, I laugh.

58. I have Parking Karma. I know that sounds really stupid but it is almost a verifiable fact. Throughout this entire time of my foot surgery and being on crutches and in the walking cast, I never needed a handicapped sticker. I know it seems weird. My husband didn't believe either when we first started dating, until he noticed that every time we went somewhere together, we got the best parking spot in the place. And if we met somewhere, *I* got the best parking spot in the place. Now he just says, "That is so FRIED. But thanks for coming along, Barb." (Of course, now that I've said it out loud, I'll never have it again.)

59. I never understand people who are decidedly cat or dog people. I love them all. Cats, dogs, rabbits, kids... whatever--I have enough love for them all. (Not snakes, though.)

60. I think Patrick Stewart is one of the sexiest men I've ever seen heard. It's the voice and the obvious intelligence. Gets me every time.

61. I kind of have a school/office supply fetish. New pens and new notebooks make me very happy.

62. I am not good at waiting. Knitting is a great help.

63. I am a writer. Sometimes I am a funny writer.

64. I am not religious but I consider myself spiritual.

65. I have a weakness for musicians. Thank God my husband is a musician and thank God he's not a PROFESSIONAL musician.

66. I love my children so fiercely that I wouldn't think twice about killing someone to protect them. Other than that, I am a pretty committed pacifist.

67. I love coffee and caffeine never used to bother me. I could have an espresso right before bed and sleep like a baby. Now I can't sleep like a baby no matter what and a shot of espresso will keep me up until, oh, November.

68. I had cancer and didn't think I would ever be able to have children.

69. I never considered myself very maternal before I had kids.

70. I am a Christian.

71. I have a quick temper but I get over being mad quickly. (Usually before the person I am mad at.)

72. I have been married before. Um, unsuccessfully.

73. My migraines are tied to abrupt changes in the barometric pressure. I have yet to figure out if getting a migraine means the fish are biting.

74. Although my skin looks like it would be very fair, I actually get a good tan. Or I used to before I started actively avoiding getting any color at all.

75. I have had two c-sections because I do not dilate. In the olden days I would have died in childbirth.

76. This makes me sort of feel schizophrenic because I believe we do too much medical intervention in the area of fertility.

77. I wish I could do carpentry like a professional. In fact, I wish I had the skills of the average handy-man. (Handy-person?)

78. I would like to drive a tractor and plow up a field.

79. I feel guilty about a lot of things, even things I did with good intentions.

80. I have a thyroid deficiency.

81. I always think people with British accents are smarter than everyone else.

82. My middle name is Jean. I never liked it so at some point (tenth grade?) I added an "ne" to make it Jeanne. It's now part of my permanent record.

83. Because I am shy, my friends usually have to initiate contact. It is rare for me to do so.

84. I could live on cheese and crackers (and the occasional bell pepper.)

85. I do not write under my own name.

86. Not being able to find something makes me more crazy than anything else. Especially if it's something I JUST HAD IN MY HAND.

87. I have a large freckle on the side of my nose that is frequently mistaken for dirt or food or something. People are always trying to rub it off. (My friend JJ says that I should be glad they don't lick their fingers first.) Recently, a friend sat staring at my freckle and then asked if I was sure it wasn't cancerous.

88. I have an older sister and two older brothers. This always surprises people. I don't know why.

89. I am almost always early or right on time. I am almost never late and the idea of that I might be late gives me a great deal of stress. A friend once said to me that I waste as much time being early as other people do being late.

90. On those rare instance when I talk on the phone, I either pace maniacally OR I scrub down my kitchen cabinets and sink.

91. I clean when I am stressed or worried about something.

92. I have an odd sense of humor. I dislike vulgar humor or potty jokes but I will laugh myself sick over slapstick humor. I know it's not very sophisticated but it cracks me up to no end. This is why our pets are hilarious.

93. I cannot bring myself to say the word "fart."

94. Some words make me laugh just by how they sound. I always giggle a little at "pumpernickel."

95. My van is the first new car I've ever had. I really prefer to buy cars a year or so old because it's less pressure.

96. I once appeared on a billboard in town wearing a cow costume.

97. This blog is the closet thing I've ever done to keeping a journal.

98. My nails grow fast and are so strong that I have to clip them routinely.

99. I love the ocean in winter. Summer, too, but especially in winter.

100. I worry a lot about injustice and the strong preying on the weak. I can't think too much about child or animal abuse because I would never get out of bed.

Comments

Tiffany said…
# 95: So you mean, for instance, that with a used car you don't feel quite so awful when your child carves her name into the paint? That kind of thing?
Anonymous said…
I can relate to so many of these, except for the crude humor one. That is the thing that enables me to deal with #100.

I had my thyroid out after dealing with it being all wanky for years. Fun, isn't it?

Do you have a picture of the cow costume thing? I need a "cow" for my contest. LOTS of link love. Interested?
Anonymous said…
So...the thing is...

there are so many things here that are the same as my list would be (it's a bit weird, really) and you didn't even mention the fact that we both have gifted 9 year old daughters and we both married guys named Mark!

I'm gonna cut and past your list into my blog and see how many of them are the same (or close to the same).
Bullwinkle said…
I don't remember how I found you. But its only been a few days and I'm enjoying myself.

I went to college with a woman who had a thing for 11:11 pm and for a moment I thought that you had to be her. But, either you've aged really well, or I'm a bit older than you.
Marion Gropen said…
I don't know you, but we are clearly cut from the same cloth! Loved your list.
Unknown said…
Oh dear, that last one. yes, i understand completely.
We have much in common-I was an army brat. Very damaging. Over 20 homes by 16.
Find no 64 and 70 confusing.

I'll be back. I found mys elf identifying(?) with many of your 100 things.
Anonymous said…
78. I would like to drive a tractor and plow up a field.

I got to do that a few years ago in Pennsylvania. I neighbor asked me if I wanted to learn how to plow when they were having "tractor day" at their family farm. I got to drive a 1948 John Deere Tractor with two discs...it was fun, difficult & now I can say that I have plowed! Let me know if you are ever in Pittsburgh, PA and I will see if I can arrange this experience for you! Take care- EE