1. Montrose has ruined my desire to ever own a mini-van. There are too many rusty, beat-up versions of them being driven by people who don't really know where they're going in this town.
2. Macaroni and cheese will always be my go-to comfort food.
3. I love dogs. Big dogs. From Beau, Brandy, Duke, Greg, Sunny, Riley, Hobbes, and Lizzie have come some of my most trusted friendships. Verdict is still out on Viva. We didn't acquire her 'on purpose'--she's good for a laugh, though. Thank goodness. And she worships me, so she's not entirely dim-witted. Ha.
4. Samwise Gamgee is the most loyal and valiant character in all of literature.
5. My husband often uses the phrase "It's just a book" or "It's just a movie"....but I will continue to laugh and cry unabashedly when the characters I grow to love as if they were real experience their fictional joys and trials. I pity people who can't, or won't, allow themselves to disappear into a well-crafted story and become a part of their lives.
6. My favorite books: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, The Lord of the Rings (all 4), Witch of Blackbird Pond, A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder, to name a few. A very few.
7. One of the little things I'm most proud of is that I completed the Newbery and Caldecott Challenges back in 2001. I read all the Caldecott Medal winners, and at least one Newbery winner or honor book ever written. Took me 3 years to do it, and I've continued to read the winners and/or honor books every year since. (I highly recommend both winners of this year's medals!)
8. I tend to speak in cliches. It probably annoys a lot of people. I know I do it, but I have no desire to rid myself of the habit. That's the way the ball bounces.
9. After living in this house, I don't think I'll ever want to reside in a place with stairs again. So spoiled by having everything on one level.
10. When I was little, still living in Michigan, it was a treat to sit on my Grandma Gray's front steps and watch the streetlights come on. The streets in our neighborhood didn't have them, and so it was a big deal to sit there until they came on.
11. Another Grandma Gray memory...going to the dime store and buying Chuckles. I still love those. Do they still make them?
12. I got extremely homesick as a kid. I couldn't even stay overnight at the house across the street, and one year I spent an entire weekend at a Girl Scout campout crying in my tent and refusing to participate in any activities.
13. My sister has always been braver and more adventurous than I. She had a great time at the afore-mentioned campout---and the only reason I finally learned to ride a 2-wheeler was that she was about to master it before I did.
14. When we moved to Colorado in 1971, I spent the entire summer homesick, and seemed to contract an ailment every weekend when I wasn't in school that first year. Reason? See #12 above. Thank goodness I outgrew it, although I'm sure I was much, much older than most before I did.
15. I love to say the word "Flabbergasted".
16. I saw "Mary Poppins" when I was 4 years old, the year it came out. I didn't see "The Sound of Music" until the mid-90's. It's not that I didn't want to, it just slipped under my radar (#8) until that point in time.
17. I don't like fish. I don't like TO fish, either. I mean, if I don't want to eat them, why would I have any interest in catching them?
18. I'm still mourning the loss of Jim Henson.
19. I envy the voices of Karen Carpenter, Cass Elliot, and Ann Wilson.
20. I still can't get over that the "Classic Oldies" on the radio are the songs of the 60's and 70's. That makes me a Classic Oldie. Yikes.
21. Speaking of music, I love it. I have favorites in many genres. Oldies, new country, easy rock, big band, and so on. I'm proud of the fact that my kids can sing along with the Carpenters, Collin Ray, and the Beatles. I take credit for it. Just don't ask me about any songs from the 1980's. My kids know why.
22. I'm worried that typing is becoming a lost art.
23. The first thing I did when I got my new iPod for my birthday last year was to accidentally set the language to German. Thank goodness my kids are tech savvy.
24. Along those lines, it actually pleases me that my mistakes and bumblings are a source of great amusement to my family. I don't embarrass easily, and I can laugh at my own folly just as much as the next guy.
25. Huh....I DON'T embarrass easily! How weird, I've never really thought about that until I just wrote it.
26. I LOVED it when the Good Humor truck came down our street when I was a kid. My favorites were the chocolate eclair bars. I still see the strawberry ones in the frozen bin at the mini-mart, but never the chocolate ones. I demand an explanation! Somebody get me the number of the Good Humor company!
27. I should have made a list like this 20 years ago. I'm not sure I have 26 more erratic thoughts in my brain.
28. I hate wind.
29. I have pretty good printing.
30. I never have understood complainers. Don't get me wrong, I do my share, mainly to my husband and/or kids (poor things!); mostly just to vent. Complaining never solves anything, and the best reason I can think of to do it is to start a conversation about how to fix whatever it is that's bothering me, OR how to learn to deal with it!
31. "OK" parents drive me crazy. Any time I hear a parent giving a child an instruction and then ending it with "OK?", I cringe. Stop asking the child's permission!!! I know it isn't what they mean to do, but they don't get that it is coming across that way! I actually forced myself to replace "OK" with "Do you understand?"---and it makes a BIG difference in the child's perception of who is actually in charge!
32. I am a better parent than I ever thought I would be. Mainly because I enjoyed my kids' company so much more than I expected to! They are so much fun to be around!
33. My husband is a better parent than I expected him to be, too. We both grew up as the oldest of small families, with very little association with anyone much younger than us!
34. I was the President of the Drama Club my senior year in high school.
35. I read all the Harry Potter books over again every summer.
36. I am a Rain Man when it comes to birthdays and phone numbers. Although, honestly, the phone number thing is fading, thanks to cell phones.
37. I crack myself up. I'm actually chuckling right now as I re-read this list. Oh, well, at least I'll always be around someone who amuses me.
38. I make more money at my job than I ever have, and the more I work, the more I realize I don't make near what I'm worth. Good thing I love it.
39. One of my favorite quotes (and words I try to live by)-- "It is our choices, ... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."** (If you don't know who said this, scroll to the end. If you do, bravo, I KNEW we were friends for a reason!)
40. I got engaged the day after my mom turned 40 (typing that number reminded me of that)...and now that I'm ever so much more than that, I feel like I should apologize for putting her through that at such a young age!
41. I know how to shoot a bow. Haven't done it in years, but take that, Merida!
42. I have a good memory. Especially for movie quotes and song lyrics. Oh, and #36.
43. Who DID write the book of love?
44. I lived several lifetimes while my son served in the Marine Corp. I got into the habit of checking my email twice a day during that time, and I can't imagine how the loved ones of soldiers in years past managed to survive, waiting for letters to come. I honor all for the sacrifices they made.
45. I am very patriotic. I will cry through "The Star Spangled Banner", "America the Beautiful", the Olympics and any commercial for any branch of the military. This is a blessed land, watched over by a loving God.
46. Faith is an action verb.
47. I hate washing windows, scrubbing pots and pans, and hanging up shirts.
48. My favorite color is green.
49. My children are my greatest contribution to the world. I hope you all get to know them sometime. They're worth it.
50. The year I turned 50, I gave myself a 50.5 birthday party. See, I wanted a big bash, and having a January, post-holiday birthday isn't exactly good timing, so I scheduled it for July 25, on my half-birthday. It was a big success, and a riotous good time. My aunts, whom I count as some of my best friends, came from Michigan to surprise me. So did a couple of close church friends who had moved away to Albuquerque. And my best friend from Broomfield. Among other cherished people.
51. I received a minor revelation on my 27th birthday. I was pregnant with my 5th child in 7 1/2 years, and my birthday fell on Super Bowl Sunday. (That won't ever happen again, now that they've pushed the Super Bowl into February. But I digress....) The Broncos were in it, and so the main focus of the day was NOT on me. I felt very sorry for myself, but then I figured it out. If I want a happy birthday, or a happy life, for that matter, I need to do all I can to make it happen. Then, if and when others decide to contribute to that happiness, it's just icing on the cake! (#8, AGAIN! Tolja....). Guess what...it works!
52. I think that the reason the years fly by more quickly as we age is simply that each year is a smaller percentage of our total earthly existence.
53. TA-DA! My final entry for now....I am fairly good at many things, and I don't really excel at anything, "...but I've always supposed that to be my own fault, because I never took the time to practice...." (Thank you, Miss Elizabeth Bennet!). Maybe it's because of that trait/fault that I have such an admiration for anyone who excels in their chosen fields. I am inspired by artists, musicians, poets, writers and teachers, and some of the best ones I've seen are within my circle of friends, family and acquaintances. How marvelous to be surrounded by so many people who make MY world such a wonderful one!
**Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot; created by J.K. Rowling)
