Taggity Tag

A long time ago... ok, just over a week ago.... my lovely new blogger friend, Cindy Beck, tagged me in a game where the person who's "it" has to write 25 random things about him/herself, and then tag 25 more people. I have given this endeavour significant thought, and I've come up with not very much. Much as I wish, I'm just not as creative a writer as my friend Cindy. I love her style of humorous writing, and wish I possessed that talent. Now, my sister is incredibly gifted and can write a mean humorous line.... maybe I should tag her? I really think she needs to start her own blog, perhaps "The Funny Knitter". :)

Last but not least, I don't even know 25 fellow bloggers to tag, and I fear even if I did, they might smote me for flinging this dastardly responsibility their way.

Ok, without further ado, here goes my list of 25 random things about myself.....

1. I am, at this point in my life, what I would like to consider a "spunky old broad". I am two years removed from 50, so much as I may fight the "old" label, I regretfully think it fits.

2. My mom broke my thumb by slamming the car door on my hand when I was a young child. She said it was an accident. As you can see, she even dressed me up and documented this event, forcing me to smile for the camera.


3. I broke my foot while sitting on a wheelbarrow full of foundation blocks with my best friend. That was due to 7-yr old stupidity, or however old I was at the time. I don't remember if my dad told us to get off, but I would guess he did, and maybe that's when it tipped over and trapped my little foot.

4. Around the same time in my adolescence, a group of neighborhood kids formed a "wagon" train. We determined that the way to signal the puller to stop the train would be to pull on our handle. A recipe for disaster. I pulled my handle up, the puller had already decided seconds earlier he was going to stop, so my handle flew up and hit me in the forehead. The two things I remember are being carried by his mother at a dead run with blood streaming down my face, and then my face being covered by cloth at the hospital while they stitched it up with bright lights streaming through the cloth.

5. My parents determined with fear that I might be an accident-prone child. Except for future trips over non-existent carpet ripples, I think I escaped the "accident-prone" label.

6. As with almost every young girl, I loved horses. My dad bought me an Appaloosa mare when I was 16 yrs old, shortly after we moved out of the city to 3.5 acres in the country. I learned that horses are a lot of work, especially when lugging 5 gallon buckets of water in the winter. Still love'em though!

Wannabe Farrah Fawcett ridin' cowgirl

7. Cindy is right... 25 is too many things to try to think of for this list!

8. I hated school. Hated it. I was an over-achiever because I was scared to bring home anything less than a B in any subject, except gym, so that made me a geek at school. I hated gym the most. I was that kid who was picked last for any team. Do you know what that does for your self-esteem??! I have serious emotional issues to this day with family croquet.

9. I love dogs. Absolutely adore them. It is difficult to stem this desire to get more since I live on 26.6 acres now. I keep telling myself, "more work, more work, more work...." I have two Australian Shepherds now and my husband has a chocolate Lab. They are all around 5 yrs old, so we will have them awhile yet. They are all GOOD dogs.


10. I love the country life. I loved it the 2 years I lived on our 3.5 acres in Norton, Ohio with the cantankerous Appie mare Shiloh and our goat and our bunnies and our kitties and dogs, and I love it now on our 26.6 acres in Kansas with our dogs, our kitties and our horses. I think I love it more now. At my age, I have the proper appreciation for this slice of solitude in the country, especially in this crazy world.

11. I love my family -- my mom, my brother and sister, my son & his wife, and my gramma. After losing my father 2 years ago, you have a more realistic view of the shortness of life, and appreciate every family member you still have.

The crew in Hawaii, October 2007

12. I appreciate every girlfriend I have. After my first marriage at the dumb age of 18, I lost contact with almost all my girlfriends, foolishly believing that my husband was my best and only friend. When we divorced 4 years later due to his love of alcohol, I learned to appreciate how wonderful all my girlfriends are, and not to take a single one for granted. My husband Tom is now my best friend, but he is certainly not my only friend.

13. I got in more trouble while growing up than my younger sister did. My brother hardly ever got in trouble. I believe it was a double whammy for me -- I was the oldest child so I had barriers to break down for the other two, and I was a girl, so my parents were very strict with me. Plus I think by the time my sister was sneaking back in the house early morning after attending a Kenny Loggins concert, my parents were tired and didn't care anymore.

14. As a young child, my son loved hiding in round displays of clothing while I was shopping. This was infuriating for me; my first clue would be the rounder moving and about to topple over. We went round and round over his desire to cause trouble while I was shopping, but then one day, it paid off when he found a $20 bill under a rounder. I never stopped his treasure hunt abilities hence forward.

15. Wow, I can't believe I'm only up to 15?! I've probably lost my readers by now with this boring litany of stuff about me....

16. I love to read. Read, read, read..... except sometimes I forget what I read, or where I read it when reciting my vast knowledge to those who don't care.

17. I start things and don't finish them. This is a very bad quality that I am still working to improve. I finished the dining room chairs earlier this week! (see prior post) Here is a baby quilt I started several years ago for my son and his wife.... now if Kristin sees this here, she can bug me to finish it.


18. I love mexican food and margaritas. I don't get either as much now that I live 30 mins from any town. I think I will have a margarita later today, right here on the ranch. :)

19. I remember when we were studying the Bible one night as a family, my dad asked "what happened when Jesus blew the trumpet?" We were 3 young fidgety children, silly and giggley, so my brother answered "a turtle came". Being 3 silly young children, we thought that was the funniest thing ever. My brother got spanked and we were all sent to our rooms. We learned that Bible study was not the time to exercise our funny bone.

20. Woo-hoo, I'm up to twenty!! Only 5 more to go. Yeppers, I'm going to use this as one of my random items.

21. I have colored my hair since my early twenties. I do not remember what color it really is. I think it used to be brown, but it would probably be gray now. I do not want to find out, so I think I will continue to color my hair.

22. I have been extremely happy since I left my last job. Those who know me, know why.

23. As much as I love it here in the country, I do miss my Ohio friends and family. They are all welcome to visit here anytime. FYI -- Tom will be in Renton, WA the month of August, so plan your trip then to keep me company. :-)

24. I am trying to improve my photography skills with my new Nikon camera, but I'm not sure that I'm doing very well. :-( Hey, I'm TRYING.

25. I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed reading this miserably boring list of random things about myself. If you did not, please let me know and I will never do this again. Oh, forget it, I promise I will never do this again....

Almost forgot, I need to tag someone. I tag my sister.... get started on your "Funny Knitter" blog.