In honor of my 100th post (gee, it took me long enough), true to blogger tradition, I present 100 things about me.
As I sit here at the computer, this is a bit daunting. Am I really that interesting enough of a person to think of 100 things? Let's give it a go, shall we?
I think I'll categorize to make it easier (so #1 should be, I'm a left-brained dork).
Food and drink:
2. When I was in my 20's I thought I didn't like wine. I just had never tasted really good wine.
3. Now, I really like wine. Really good pinots - either grigio or noir. Paul Hobbs and La Crema are among my favorites.
4. I love a good cosmo, too, or any mixed drink with vodka (and picture me saying that like Ally Sheedy in Breakfast Club).
5. This summer a lot of nights I've indulged in a Mike's Hard Lemonade. I love the lemonade and cranberry light versions.
6. I drink very little caffeine. If I have a soda, it's usually a root beer. I have one coffee a day (although I call it coffee-flavored milk and sugar water because it has to be heavily flavored). If I have any more I get all shaky, and I hate that feeling. Not a big tea drinker, although I have started drinking green tea just for the health benefits.
7. When I need a sweet drink, I will grab a Vitamin Water Zero, the Squeezed flavor. I love it!
8. For me, nothing beats a huge glass of water filled with ice. Best drink ever. The boys are constantly drinking "Mommy's water" because I use fun glasses with straws.
9. I love anything cake-y. Cake, cupcakes, really soft cookies...mmmm....oops, let me wipe the drool off the keyboard.
10. I binge eat ice cream right out of the container,
11. and I drink milk right out of the carton sometimes.
12. I eat very little red meat. It grosses me out.
13. I make awesome lasagne using gluten-free noodles, ground turkey, sauce with lots of veggies, and lots and lots of cheese!
14. Hubby has Celiac Disease - yes, I know that's not about me, but it affects me since I have to prepare a lot of things gluten-free.
15. I think gluten-free food, for the most part, sucks. However, in the last 4 years we have been doing gluten-free, the products have really improved.
16. I'm thinking I should do a post on good gluten-free recipes, products, and websites, because there are a lot out there.
17. I love grilled chicken, especially on a salad, and salmon, but never on a salad.
18. I can eat raw carrots like candy, but keep cooked carrots far away from me!
19. I love broccoli, avocados, raw spinach, strawberries, apples and nectarines.
20. I hate peppers, mushrooms, pineapple and watermelon.
21. I don't like bananas, but I love banana-flavored things.
22. I don't like anything too sour or too spicy.
About my family:
23. I've known Hubby since second grade. We went to a huge Catholic school, so we didn't know each other well, but enough to feel comfortable and want to start hanging out years later.
24. I got engaged on New Year's Eve 1999, but I drank so much wine that night, I almost missed it (see #3). It's still a bone of contention with Hubby.
25. We were 31 when we got married.
26. We got married on a Friday, and it was the most beautiful, perfect day - weather-wise and wedding-wise.
27. Hubby and I have had four homes - an apartment, a darling little brick home in an older neighborhood, a two family rental in Long Beach, New York, and our current home.
28. I've had three miscarriages - at six weeks, ten weeks, and twelve weeks. The first two I cried for three days. The last one I was relieved because it was when Joey was sick.
29. I talked Hubby into doing fertility treatments. I didn't even want to hear the "A" word, which is sad because now I know so many people with adopted children and how complete these children make them feel.
30. With my twins, I started preterm labor at 20 weeks and was put on bedrest for the next 14 and a half weeks.
31. I didn't know I was in labor. I thought my back just really hurt.
32. I was in labor for two and a half days.
33. Joey and Slim were born, vaginally, three hours and two minutes apart (I'll let #32 and 33 soak in for a minute).
34. We moved to Long Beach, NY when the twins were seven months old. We were to be there for two years while Hubby completed a residency.
35. I didn't want to go because I was scared (post 9/11 and being alone with two babies).
36. But I rocked it, and it is now a great memory!
37. I got pregnant with Knox when the twins were 11 months old. Wasn't planning on it, but after a year and a half of infertility, I didn't think I'd get p.g. so easily.
38. Knox was born so fast, I almost didn't get my epidural. Since I pretty much felt all the pain, I wish I wouldn't have gotten it.
39. So I was in New York with three babies under the age of two, and I LOVED IT! I put the twins in the double stroller and Knox in the front pack, and we walked all over Long Beach.
40. One of my proudest moments was driving all three kids, my mom and neice into Manhattan by myself, and not getting lost once.
41. Lil C' was planned. He's the only one who worked out the way it was supposed to, although we had to chase him out of my uterus.
42. As you know, Baby E was a complete surprise. He was unwanted at first. I was so scared there would be something wrong with him because I was over 40, and I didn't think I was strong enough to handle any more heartache.
43. I am grateful every day for his surprise arrival.
Some of my favorite things:
44. Season=fall
45. Holiday=Christmas for the music, message and decor; Fourth of July for the fireworks and message.
46. Color=blue, lucky I had all boys.
47. Movies=Memphis Belle, Sound of Music, It's a Wonderful Life, any of those 80's and 90's teen movies like 16 Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day off, Breakfast Club, St. Elmo's Fire, Heathers, Disney movies like Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid - I'm sure there are more. I love movies!
48. Same with books, not sure I can narrow it down. I used to be a voracious reader until I had kids. Now it has to be really good to keep me interested. Loved the Harry Potter books and can't wait to share them with my boys. Never got into Twilight and refuse to read the Fifty Shades of Grey series. Not because I'm a prude (which I am a little bit), but because the horrible writing insults my intelligence. I did read the Hunger Games series and found it fascinating. I'm working on Gone Girl and Wrecked, a non-fiction book by Jeff Goins, right now, both I'd highly recommend.
49. Sounds=obviously, the giggles of my kids, chirping of birds in the morning, the rush of ocean waves, marching bands, jazz music, the dry sarcasm of Hubby's deadpan jokes.
50. Holy crap, I'm only halfway through, and I'm starting to feel bad that all I've done is talk about myself.
51. Flower=hard to say, too. I love the mixed bouquets at the grocery store because they last like two weeks. I especially love when I get them for no reason.
52. Place to take my kids=the zoo. We have one of the best zoos in the country here in Nebraska. It's true.
53. Place I've visited=probably California, Monterey/Carmel area. Gorgeous weather, laid back nice people, beautiful scenery.
Random stuff:
54. I'm the youngest of three.
55. My older brother and sister's names are Barbie and Ken (see, you've read this before - I told you I would use those seven things).
56. My childhood nicknames were Skip (short for Skipper, Barbie's little sister) and Tass (because my brother called me Tassy intstead of Kathy).
57. My real name is Kathleen, which I love but don't go by because it makes me feel like I'm in trouble or someone doesn't really know me well enough to know that I go by Kathy.
58. If we ever had a girl (which I'm sure we won't now, so it's safe to share) her name would have been Natalie Kathleen. Natalie was one name Hubby and I both loved, and Kathleen would have represented all the good things I would have hoped to pass on to my daughter.
59. Even though I get sad when I stare at darling little girl clothes, I'm so glad I don't have a daughter. Doing her hair, all the drama, how much some girls hate their moms, and high school - I could never do all that again. Some things about raising boys break my heart enough.
60. When I was little, I loved Barbie dolls and paper dolls.
61. I wanted to be an actress or a writer.
62. I loved riding my bike.
63. I sat in the closet to read books.
64. I went to Catholic school from first to twelfth grade.
65. I was in a sorority in college.
67. I majored in elementary education and english.
68. I taught second grade for one year and fifth grade for eight years.
69. I always thought my dream job, if I couldn't be a writer, would be as a professor at a university.
70. Now I don't see why I can't be a writer.
Fears:
71. Cancer: I used to think it would be my parents or me, but it was Joey. I still fear it being someone else I love.
72. The dark, or rather, what's in the dark.
73. Heights. I got stuck on the top of a pyramid on my honeymoon.
74. Anything with more than four legs - or no legs (read: snakes)
75. Losing my parents and my spouse. Or another of my children.
76. Writing my book about Joey, and no one wants it.
77. Getting something I really want. Sometimes, I've gotten exactly what I wanted, and it turned out not as I had expected (thus the tag line of this blog).
78. Never getting what I really want. For example, getting paid to write creatively. I see all of your comments as validation for my writing, but I'd like value for my writing sometime, too.
79. Freak accidents. OMG, don't even get me started on that.
80. Losing my ability to see or move.
81. Sexual assault and random violence.
Bucket list stuff:
82. Obviously, publish a book and more than a few people buy it.
83. Travel overseas. I've never been. Would love to go to Australia, Greece, France, England, China, Ireland, and a safari in Africa.
84. Hike something like a big mountain or the Grand Canyon. That'd help me get over my fear of heights!
85. Do something positive for women and girls like start a website. I try so hard to be positive and uplifting in my writing and a little bit self-depricating because I think the biggest mistake a woman can make is thinking that she is better than anyone else. It's what divides us, and we should really be thinking that we are all in this crazy life of womanhood and motherhood together.
86. I have no desire to ever sky-dive, bungee jump, or ride in a hot air balloon (see #73).
87. Or get a tatoo.
88. I would like to be able to wear a bikini again.
Other stuff:
89. I weigh about 25 more pounds than I did when I got married. And I'm scared I will keep gaining weight. My health has not been a priority these last three years.
90. The other day at the doctor I was 5 feet, 3 and 3/4 inches. If my calculations are correct, I've grown approximately 3/4ths of an inch!
91. Unfortunately, I'm smart enough to know that 3/4ths of an inch does not equal 25 pounds.
92. If I was going to get free plastic surgery, I would pick a nose job (no pun intended) over a boob job. Everyone sees your nose. If you are a normal, slightly prudish person like me, no one but your Husband and your kids sees your boobs.
93. I might feel differently about #92 once I stop nursing baby #5.
94. I've discovered that I love yoga.
95. I make my family go to mass every Sunday, even though I haven't heard a word of it in eight years.
96. I sleep with the same baby pillow that my mom made me when I was two. It's soft and broken in and familiar.
97. I also sleep with Joey's favorite stuffed animal, Stripey Kitten.
98. I fall asleep in a chair or on the couch A LOT with my lap top in my lap.
99. I hate that my house is such a mess right now.
100. If you ask me another day, half of the things on this list might change.
What else would you ask me about myself that I didn't mention? Or if you know me personally, what would you add that I left out?
