1. None of my friends or family knows about this blog.
2. I am very private. (So what am I doing here?!)
3. I am guarded until I learn a person's true nature.
4. I believe in the goodness of humans but they have to earn my trust. If my trust is betrayed, I can't "go back" emotionally. Ever.
5. Tomato skins and tomato seeds in food conjure a gag reflex in me that I cannot control.
6. At the time of this publishing, I am about to introduce Goose to a book called "It's So A*mazing! A book about E*ggs, S*perm, Birth, Babies and F*amilies". Um, yeah.
Update: Consider the can opened.
7. I despise insincerity.
8. I also despise people who sit in the parking of the Supercenter blocking traffic waiting on a parking space to clear out when there are SEVERAL that require the actual burning of calories. Get off of your untoned @$$ and do a little walking.
9. I am a very complimentary person. Unless you hold up traffic in parking lots.
10. And while we are at it, put up your
d@mn cart so it doesn't slam into my car.
11. I want to be a chocolatier someday. And Johnny Depp can be my first customer.
12. I used to be an English tutor for the literacy council. My student was a Chinese immigrant. She was the first "red thread" to my daughter. We still send each other birthday cards.
13. When I find small not-scary spiders in my house, I gather them up on a piece of paper and set them free outside.
14. The ones that look like their bite could make an arm fall off due to a flesh-eating type condition get the boot. A boot. On top of them.
15. DH and I have seen Bob Dylan in concert five times.
16. I have a fascination with barns.
17. I would love to write a novel about a barn’s life.
18. A story winding through a century revealing what the barn saw.
19. I wrote a short story for my children about a country vet.
20. There was a barn in the story.
21. They begged for more.
22. Maybe someday.
23. I drink tea - iced, sweet and decaffeinated.
24. Four years ago, I went "decaf" and have not looked back!
25. I have always been slender.
26. At 36, I blossomed and acquired some hips! Lovin my new hips.
27. IMHO, Sweetened condensed milk is a miracle in the culinary world.
28. I enjoy cooking but have such anxiety deciding WHAT to cook.
29. ((knocking on wood)) I have never had to watch what I eat.
30. Stop throwing daggers at your computer screen.
31. I must have a sleep machine to sleep.
32. It has to be on "white noise"...ocean waves just keep me awake.
33. I have an aversion to hotel rooms...I won't let my feet touch the floors and the bedding cannot touch my face.
34. I spent the night on the sidewalk of my daughters' (year-round) elementary school so we would get a "spot" during KG enrollment. It was 35 degrees that night. I peed behind a bush as needed. I still have a fond affection for that bush five years later.
35. I love animals (see 36-45).
36. We have a cat and a dog.
37. And a 13.3 HH hunter/jumper pony.
38. Our pony gives me peace.
39. I bury my face in his neck when I am with him.
40. He makes me very, very happy.
41. He walked over my foot and broke my pinky toe.
42. I am very guarded with my foot now.
43. We have barn swallows who nest under our porch every Spring. One or two always fall out and we try to save them. In vain.
44. In college, I hatched eggs in an incubator for a speech in my public speaking class. I thought they were going to be chickens and I cried out of joy when I saw duck beaks. Chickens are lovely creatures but there was something more interesting about ducks. They lived to adulthood. Until a raccoon ate them.
45. We have a two year old Chinese Crested Powderpuff (How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days dog but the ones with hair). I taught him to ring a bell when he has to go potty. My friends are all amazed and maybe somewhat alarmed..."your dog rings a bell to go pee?" Y
es. And, no, I do not have control issues.
46. If my house was on fire (pooh, pooh, pooh), my first earthly possession to see safety would be my D*ell laptop.
47. I heart my PC and it's continuous Internet connection.
48. I have an intense fear of rodents, particularly mice. There is a hard-to-speak-about-scarred-me-for-life incident concerning my ten-year-old arm going into a feed sack and a lightning fast rodent using said arm as a ladder where it scurried up into my shirt. Long flailing legs. Running. Blood curdling screaming.
49. I am not a member of Mensa.
50. But I do have a bachelor’s degree in business.
51. I don’t particularly enjoy business.
52. I used to be an Employment Paralegal.
53. I defended EEOC charges for a large corporation.
54. And did training seminars on preventing sexual harassment.
55. Also at said corporation I referred to my pink breast cancer ribbon pin as "my breast awareness pin" when a male co-worker inquired. During a meeting. In a room filled with men. It seems the fact that I was going to have to say "breast" in front of men in a work setting was too much for my just-out-of-college brain.
56. I love to dance. It was a missed calling.
57. I have excellent rhythm. And long legs.
58. Well, aren't I just da bomb? :O
59. And I love music.
60. I don’t watch TV really. Except for the addicting Grey's.
61. NPR, Sirius Radio and iPod are just a few of my musical loves.
62. I would rather have hot pokers in my eyes than watch a daytime “soap”. Seriously, if anyone ever needed to pump me for information, just make me sit in the same room as any of the soaps being currently broadcast on the big three and I tell you people, I would give up any and all family secrets...recipes, indecretions of family members during the 70's, secret nude photos...it's all yours, just turn off the TV dammit!
63. I am very involved in China Adoption.
64. And create amateur websites for non-profit groups.
65. Recently I became addicted to PF Ch*angs melon shrimp.
66. Since I was 8 yrs old, New York City has been my favorite place.
67. But I have never been there.
68. I want to go for the first time with Ivan, Goose and Lili.
69. And see many Broadway shows.
70. And ride the subway.
71. And see Five Points.
72. And Chinatown
73. And Ground Zero.
74. I am very spiritual but not terribly religious.
75. Despite my uncertainties we take our children to mass. I feel guilty about my lack of certainly. But don’t want to cheat my children out of a religious life even though I think spirituality is more important.
76. This is an ongoing source of anxiety for me.
77. In college I was almost crushed during a stampede at a Motley Crue concert.
78. On the way to said concert, I was pulled over for speeding and, based on my appearance, the officer asked if there were drugs in the car. Silly man. If only he knew what a pollyanna I was behind those ripped jeans.
79. My husband, Ivan, was my high school sweetheart.
80. We got married after college.
81. He is very patient and he loves me purely and unselfishly.
82. He flies a Cessna 150, canoes and plays guitar. He is extremely humble. He is the quiet one in this relationship.
83. I love his hands. I am a hands girl. They must be strong and capable of doing manly things. They should not be pale or clammy or overly manicured.
84. Ivan. Adores. His. Daughters. Is there anything sexier than a good father?
85. His mother died of cancer two years ago.
86. I was devastated.
87. I still am.
88. I miss her daily, sometimes hourly.
89. I hate, abhor, despise cancer.
90. My children are not allowed to say “hate”.
91. Unless they are talking about cancer.
92. The one word we should all live with is "respect"...Goose and Lili have been taught to apply this to all aspects of their lives. The world would be a better place if everyone did this. One. Simple. Word.
93. We discuss adoption with our girls.
94. They have a very loving, positive concept of it.
95. Sadly, we will never meet our China birthmother.
96. Joyously, we have held our domestic birthmother in our arms.
97. We. Love. Her. She loves us back.
98. We send her cards several times a year.
99. I mourn my China daughter’s loss...she will never meet her birthmother.
100. Loss should not define how we live our lives...I hope to teach her that.
101. I could inhale my daughters I love them so much..
