This is an ongoing list of randomness that makes me, well, me. Helps me accept myself more or maybe kick me in the butt to be a better person.
1. Yes, I am antisocial. There, I said it. I tried not to admit to this. I look at it as I am not anti-social, I just am REALLY picky about who I associate with.
2. This being said, I would much rather be at home than at the mall.
3. The last two times I went to the mall, there was a reptile show in the common area.
4. My worst fear is snakes.
5. My kids love the mall. I think they just want to get away from me.
6. My thoughts are constantly consumed with money. Not with spending money, how to save money.
7. I raise chickens for eggs so I don’t have to buy eggs at the store. I have figured out that I need my 20 hens to lay at least one dozen eggs a day so I can sell at least 4 dozen eggs a week to cover the cost of buying feed every 2 weeks so I can use 3 dozen eggs a week for free. Of course this doesn’t include my time calculated for feeding and catching the rogue loose chickens.
8. If the chicken and egg deal seems complicated, I have also calculated that picking weeds out of the yard for the rabbits every day will save me a whole day of rabbit feed a month,and if I drive the back way to the Dollar store it saves me 1/10 of a mile which equals out to saving me $0.01375 which adds up when I go there like 10 times a month. I also make my own laundry soap, hand soap pump refills, semi-whole wheat bread, and pizza. Maybe this is why I am anti-social, I don’t have time for socializing.
9. D wants me to get a job. I am assuming he means a job that pays in real money, you know, like cash.
10. I have worked as a baker, drive thru cashier (fast food), vet tech, newspaper delivery person, photography studio help, janitor, babysitter, and don’t know what else. I think what ever job comes my way I will take, I am open to almost anything I haven’t already done. It's a bucket list thing.
11. Most people assume that I live on a farm like I did growing up. They would be surprised to find out my kids didn’t know broccoli comes from a garden, not a store. My kids are also offended that I sell rabbits to the meat man.
12. I wish my kids could have grown up like I did. It was the best life ever.
13. My youngest, (FL) asks me to tell her stories about when I was little. I tell her I never really got big, I’m still 4′11 1/2″, but she doesn’t get my humor.
14. My childhood memories consists of Angora bunnies and lambs barricaded in the kitchen, trips “up north,” and a huge garden full of veggies and flowers. FL’s favorite stories are about Nana’s crazy turkeys, escaped cows, a wood duck in the basement, and how I got to visit both sets of grandparents on the same day every weekend.
15. My youngest recently told us she knows she is adopted because she doesn’t have a baby book. I tried to tell her she is special, all of her baby pictures are on the computer. She didn’t buy it.
16. My older kids are now all in junior and senior high. They don’t ask for my childhood stories anymore, they ask for D’s childhood stories. I guess they figured out he was WAY more interesting as a teen than I was. Those of you that know him, know what I mean.
17. D and I have been married 20 years. We have lived in 3 different states and moved 9 times. I am a packing pro. Things like wrapping dishes in towels, comforters in the dryer, clothes in pillowcases instead of suitcases. With moving so much you would think I know not to keep to many things, but I am a hoarding queen. Just don’t call the “Hoarders” show on me.
18. The older kids were born very close together. For some reason I thought I missed out on something with them and so we “got” another child. Eight years after the last, 11 years after the first. D figured out he will be almost 60 by the time she is old enough to move out. I figure I will be tired.
19. I don’t have health insurance, so I have to rely on my brain to self-diagnose what ever ails me. I have decided I have adult onset ADHD, ophidiophobia, psoriasis and I am addicted to facebook games.
20. The ADHD is a good excuse for my messy house. I start with washing the dishes and often find myself somewhere else, like mowing the yard or cleaning out a rabbit’s cage,and the dishes don't really get all the way done. I do try to have a schedule. I clean on Mondays, but only Mondays that are holidays.
21. I do try very hard at cleaning the house. Especially after FL told me when she grows up she is going to have a kitchen with “counters that have nothing on them.” I told her good luck, she has my genes and counters stacked with stuff runs in the family. She reminds me that she is adopted.
22. I love to cook and bake. In 2008 I tried over 300 new recipes. I knew one could make homemade pizza and bread, but never dreamed I could make egg rolls and liquid vanilla coffee creamer. Or Starbuck’s Frappuccino.Or Panera’s Broccoli Cheese Soup. Of course, I’ve never been to Starbucks or Panera’s, but the copycat recipes are really good.
23.I am a people watcher. For some reason I am intrigued with family dynamics. When a group of strangers walk by me, I am always trying to figure out what kid belongs to which parent or who is married to who.
24. If you find me looking at you, I am not critiquing your wardrobe, hair or makeup. Unfortunately, I was not gifted with the girly desire to be hip, current with the latest fashion trends or the like. I am looking at you simply to figure out how you fit into the world.
25. I don't own a cell phone, so I have never "texted", "tweeted" or "twittered" about anything.
26. I don't eat talapia or octopus or raw fish.
27. I don't think I have ever watched MTV.
28. I have never been west of the Mississippi River, unless you count the one time D drove me over the river and immediately turned around and went back to Illinois.
29. Except for being born in Germany, the only other country I've ever been to is Canada.
30. I don't like playing games. Just ask my sister.
31. I don't really like driving.
32. I can wake up and instantly know that it will be a good day or a bad day for taking pictures. I can feel it in my bones, so to say, that a good picture will be taken today (or not). I can't think of doing anything else until that picture is taken.
33. I took my first photograph all by myself at the age of 3 or 4. Imagine my dad's surprise when he got his photos developed and found a picture of me, me with his camera looking into his dresser mirror and taking a picture of myself in the mirror. Pretty weird that I got his 35mm camera fairly focused and the lighting wasn't too bad either. Pretty funny too, that I didn't have much on, clothing wise. Guess I wasn't that self-conscious yet.
34. I don't really like taking people pictures, but landscapes and animals. I do think it would be neat to take pictures of hunters, with their deer or bear or elk. Like the pictures you see in Outdoor Life or Field and Stream.
