In Celebration of my 100th Post . . .

In the midst of my Love lists I hit my 100th post, but didn't want to interrupt the lists, so I am now posting . . . 100 Random Things About Me!

1 Mom was in labor with me for 38 hours because . . .
2 I was backwards in the womb
3 I wouldn't stop crying until the nurses let me see my mom, and after that they said I was the best baby in the nursery
4 I am the 3rd of 4 children, the 5th of 6, or the 7th of 8, depending on who you ask. The third of my daddy's, the 5th of my mom's, and the 7th of them all together.
5 I liked to hide in the dryer when I was a kid
6 One of my favorite pasttimes was pushing my brother over when he was learning to sit up
7 I lived in California until I was 4
8 My daddy passed away 3 days before we were to move to Washington
9 We moved anyway
10 I love poetry. My parents both wrote poems, so I guess it swam through the genes.
11 My favorite color is blue.
12 I am addicted to World of Warcraft.
13 I love movies. Once a month I take a day to myself and spend the entire day at the movie theater. Yes, by myself. I look forward to it for weeks!
14 I have no problem spending vast amounts of time all alone. I've always been that way. I can always find something entertaining to do--like writing.
15 I am addicted to office supplies. I can't walk into an office store without buying something.
16 My favorite pens in the whole world are Sanford Uni-ball Vision, Vision Elite, and Uni-ball Signo. Sanford makes the best pens EVER!
17 I also love writing with fountain pens. There's something about the scratch of a nib across paper that thrills me.
18 I love to write by hand, which is funny for a kid who got straight C's in penmanship.
19 I have a license in massage therapy.
20 I tried to go to school for computer programming but found I was better at repairing
21 I had music scholarship offers from Weber State College and Utah State University for the flute.
22 I picked USU and got mononucleosis my second quarter in and had to go home
23 I served a mission in Hartford Connecticut and was able to serve in four states:
24 Rhode Island
25 New York
26 Connecticu
27 and Vermont
28 My best friend is my next door neighbor
29 My sons are adopted but they look a lot like us
30 I'm addicted to Pepsi, just like my grandmother was.
31 I've been told people can't tell where I'm from. My accent is muddled from living in the East, West, and South.
32 The dentists frequently tell me I have nearly perfect teeth, but I never had braces
33 I had to train myself to swallow differently when I was 6 because the dentist said pushing my teeth with my tongue when swallowing would eventually lead to braces.
34 I love Mexican food
35 My sister and her daughter lived with us for a while when I was young and she cooked authentic Mexican food.
36 The first time she made it I asked "What's this junk?"
37 That got me yelled at
38 Then I ate every bite.
39 It's her fault I love it to much. I could have Mexican breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I never get tired of it.
40 My favorite candy is Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Not the big ones. They have too much peanut butter. The minis have a perfect balance of chocolate to peanut butter.
41 When I was a kid I didn't like peanut butter. Instead of a PBJ I'd just have butter and jam.
42 I have made my own butter.
43 I lived on a farm in Washington and Oklahoma.
44 My little brother and I tried to ride the sheep in Washington.
45 We had cows, pigs, chickens, rabbits, and horses in Oklahoma.
46 My h9rse once threw me in a briar patch.
47 It hurt
48 I learned to drive when I was 12. My step-dad took me out on the backroads in Oklahoma where every stop sign is at the top of a hill and taught me to drive a stick. It was scary-fun. I'd kill the car every time I stopped and peel out trying to get over the hill.
49 I drove better in reverse than forward when I was learning for my license
50 I taught my husband to drive stick at Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City.
51 During the 2002 Olympics we lived close enough to the stadium that we could watch the fireworks go off on TV and then hear it delayed outside.
52 Despite living so close, I never attended an Olympic event.
53 I love to build things.
54 Despite my allergy to sawdust, the scent is like heaven to me. It takes me to a happy place.
55 I built my den out of half of my garage, tiled, painted, built bookshelves, and even helped with the electric.
56 I take after my mother in the building arena. At the age of 73 she built a storage shed and a raised deck, the deck being the roof to the shed.
57 My mom is my hero. I could do no better in this life than to become even a fraction of the woman she was.
58 I love to sleep outside under the stars. As a kid in Oklahoma I slept out every night of the summer it didn't rain, and even some that it did.
59 In Bountiful I slept on the trampoline or on the roof.
60 The lsat time I slept under the stars was the night before I got married.
61 I have a niece whose only broken bones came when she was with me. Once, falling off my horse, and once falling down the stairs when I was babysitting. I didn't push her either time. Honest!
62 I have two half-brothers whom I have not seen or spoken to since I was 4. It makes me sad.
63 I love medical mystery shows like Bones and the CSI's (all of them).
65 My favorite actress is Sandra Bullock.
66 I don't have a favorite actor.
67 I love castles and would love to live in one someday . . . or at least a modern approximation of one.
68 My first love of books came in the form of mythology from different cultures. Japanese and Native American were particularly interesting.
69 My second book love was mysteries, particularly Nancy Drew.
70 I didn't discover fantasy until I was 11 an then it was The Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs. They gave me a rather well rounded introduction to speculative fiction.
71 I once got 100 dollars for Christmas when I was 16 and I spent every penny on books, some of which I still have.
72 Needless to say, Mom wasn't too happy when I came home with two stacks of books. They cost 2.99 apiece back then. Those were the days.
73 I learned to harmonize at the age of 10. Mom and Grandma were both singers and Grandma could pick the harmony out of anything and taught me how to hear it. I still sing harmony along with the radio more often than not.
74 I first met my husband while laying carpet, but I like to forget that initial introduction since I hid as quickly as I could. I wasn't looking too hot after spending the day on my knees with carpet glue.
75 Our real meeting, when we actually paid attention to each other, took place on a piano bench.
76 I fell in love the moment I heard him sing. It was love at first note.
77 I couldn't have children.
78 I had PCOS
79 I no longer have it since that would require ovaries I no longer have
80 I am a cancer survivor, very blessed to have had it caught extremely early
81 I have never broken a bone, so far as I know.
82 I am totally accident prone. I'm always getting hurt
83 I'm also clumsy, dropping things all the time
84 I love to cook
85 I hated cooking when I was a kid
86 I don't like following recipes.
87 My sister-in-law says I should have been an engineer.
88 I'm always figuring out better ways to do things. Once when moving we lived on the third floor of an apartment complex with the parking lot on the back side. Moving boxes meant going down three flights of stairs and walking all the way around the building to the truck, so I devised a system that would let us send things directly from our balcony to the truck. It was a matter of rope, a laundry basket, and a metal clip. We'd put things in the basket, clip it to the rope and lower over the side. We got out of there in record breaking time.
89 I've written two books and started many more
90 I somehow lost over five years of poems. Yeah, heartbreaking.
91 I love nuts. Just about any food can be made better with nuts in it.
92 I invented my own version of a veggie sandwich that has become extremely popular with my friends.
93 I'm good at fixing things. It's just a knack I have.
94 I collect wolves, dragons, and fairies. Pictures and statuettes, not the real thing.
95 I love animals and they seem to be drawn to me. The neighbors laugh because all three of my cats follow me wherever I go.
96 I co-teach a writing class at one of the local jr. highs thanks to my teacher/writer friend Shanna.
97 My favorite snack is apples with peanut butter.
98 I love bagels with cream cheese
99 Let's just say I love food and leave it at that
100 My greatest dream is to be published someday soon.

Quote of the day: "The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air. All I must do is find it, and copy it."

~Jules Renard, "Diary," February 1895