100 Things About Moi (Part Two)

Part two of my 100 Things About Myself. See previous post for first 50.

51. I desperately wish I could still have a cat, but my husband is extremely allergic. We tried getting some kittens once, but my husband couldn’t breathe after a while. So I reluctantly gave the kittens back.
52. I type ridiculously quickly, which contributes to my long-winded-ness on my blog. It’s almost as fast as talking.
53. I met my husband exactly 13 years and one day ago—on February 11th, 1995. A group of my high school friends decided to go the Sweethearts dance in a group, instead of getting dates. When the night came around, we were short a couple guys. So Drew said, "Maybe Josh would want to go. I doubt it, but I'll call him and see." The rest is history.
54. I love to read good literature. I remember in high school being surprised at how much I enjoyed the book “Candide.” I thought it would be impossible to understand since it’s so old.
55. I had an entire class in college about how to persuade people to do what you want. It was rather Machiavellian, but it was an awesome class. It was called “Rhetorical Methods.”
56. Don’t worry. I don’t use the principles I learned in “Rhetorical Methods” on a day-to-day basis. I can’t even convince my own kids to brush their teeth usually.
57. I have actually said, “You can’t have cake until you finish your root beer!” or “No more ice cream until you finish your candy!” or similar things. Whenever I hear that coming out of my mouth, I really question my sanity as a parent.
58. I love road trips. Hot sun beating down on my skin, hundreds of miles of sage brush, dirty gas station bathrooms…. Good times, good times.
59. I really wish I could remember the name of this guy I met in an LDS chat room about 12 years ago. John … something. I think. We were NOT romantically involved—he was just a very interesting human being and I’d like to know what he’s done with his life since then.
60. I hate feeding my kids breakfast.
61. I hate feeding my kids lunch.
62. I hate feeding my kids dinner.
63. I hate changing diapers.
64. I hate potty training.
65. I hate crayon on the walls.
66. I hate temper tantrums.
67. I adore my children.
68. I rarely wore pastel pink until I met my husband. I wanted to fit into his family and started to wear pink like they did.
69. Once I realized how pathetic that is, I stopped wearing pink for them and started wearing pink because I actually like to be girlie sometimes.
70. I think life is all about contradictions. My favorite Comms Theory chapter was about "Cognitive Dissonance." It's fascinating.
71. I currently own two pairs of high heels, and two pairs of Crocs. I also have one pair of boots that I never wear. My passion for shoes is, as of yet, unfulfilled.
72. I wore my boots last Saturday.
73. I think Crocs are the ugliest shoes ever invented, but also the comfiest.
74. I hate talking to friends on the phone.
75. I love talking to friends online or in person.
76. I adore my friends from high school: Marissa, I miss you so much since you went to Boston! Craig, I need to have you around more often so I can get my weekly dose of laughter! Rochelle, I’m glad we’ve rediscovered how much we have in common! Alysa, you are one of the strongest people I know—don’t shortchange yourself. Cockroach, I’m glad our friendship survived dating each other because you make me laugh when Craig's not around. Ryan, I think it’s awesome that you ended up at MIT and I miss being able to hang out with you and Marissa. James, where would my board game life be without you?? YoungM, remember how we used to go practice ballroom dancing late at night? Linda, isn’t it great that we discovered cousins could be best friends? Karen & Paul, I’m so glad you’re living close again and I wish we got together more often! Herrick, your smile is contagious and I can't be unhappy when you're around!
77. I took one ballroom dance class and I’ve been in mourning ever since it was over.
78. When people tell me I sing well, I’m not sure if I believe them or not. I have my good days and my bad days and haven’t discovered my own personal style yet.
79. My voice teacher thinks I’d be well-suited to opera, but how practical is that? Most people I know hate hearing that style of music unfortunately.
80. I have a really, really loud singing voice so it’s almost impossible to sing in my ward choir. I can hardly get any sound out at all when I’m trying to blend in quietly. It’s pathetic and frustrating.
81. My singing range is super fun. I can sing a low alto or high soprano or anything in between. I feel blessed to be able to have fun with whatever songs I like.
82. I took violin lessons and ballet lessons when I was in elementary school.
83. I’ve always been afraid of failure so I always exit on my own terms—I chickened out of violin and ballet both and have since regretted running away since I love music and I love dance.
84. I stick with singing partially because I don’t want to be a quitter anymore.
85. I loved 80’s and 90’s alternative rock when I was younger: New Order, Depeche Mode, U2, the B-52s, Pet Shop Boys, etc. I still have some of those albums but rarely listen to them anymore.
86. I felt betrayed when U2 finally released a new album in the early 90's. It was such a departure from what I had worshiped in the past that I stopped listening to U2 for years.
87. When I was in junior high, I had a huge crush on Larry Mullen Jr. (drummer from U2), Morrissey and Chris Isaak.
88. I’m a reality TV junkie. I enjoy The Amazing Race, Supernanny, American Idol, The Apprentice, etc. I don’t like Survivor or Big Brother or trashy reality shows. The Amazing Race is my favorite and the other ones are guilty pleasures. I used to look down on people who watched reality TV.
89. I often agree with Simon on American Idol. “Simply dreadful!” or “You really surprised us tonight. Well done.”
90. My son was angry this morning when he saw a plate with crumbs and sugar on it—“What was this?!?!?” (See previous post about thank yous.) I didn’t want to tell him the cookies were put away in a Tupperware, because he hadn’t even had breakfast yet. So I tolerated him saying, “That was NOT nice, Mommy!!” He’ll be thrilled later when the cookies are revealed.
91. I could have simply said, “You can have a cookie later, Joseph,” but I was too busy dealing with sick twins who were making a ruckus, so I wasn’t thinking clearly.
92. I love being the primary secretary, but I’ve really fallen down on the job lately, which I need to turn around.
93. My sister, Kristin, and I love IKEA. My brother hates IKEA: “It’s so cheap!” he says. ... “Yeah,” I retort. “That’s why people LIKE it!”
94. I have had three pregnancies, three children, one set of twins and one miscarriage. Did that make sense?
95. Every time I wear makeup to church, people say, “Wow, you look nice today. Are you losing weight?” I don’t want to go into the whole, “No, it’s just that the illusion of having cheekbones makes my face look thinner” so I just thank them and say, “Yes, I have lost a little bit of weight recently.” It’s easier that way and I really have lost a little bit of weight.
96. When I put the twins in “time out” in their room, they cheer because it just means they’ll go tear the bedding off and jump on the mattress.
97. I need to think of a more effective time out.
98. I loooove being organized, but when my organization system gets off balance, I throw up my hands and let the whole house get cluttered until I’m in a fit of organization again. My husband HATES this about me!
99. My idea of a happy holiday would be about a week at home without the kids so I could declutter, then organize and then deep clean the house. I can fantasize, can’t I?
100. If you’ve read this far, I should write you a thank you note and send you a congratulatory gift. I’m not sure if that means you’ve won or not.

Lately people have been copping out on the "tags" by saying, "Anybody who wants to do this, do it!" That is a good plan, because nobody will be offended by being left off the list. So I'll keep up the tradition. Can you think of 100 things about yourself that you'd like to share with every creepy sex offender and pervert on the internet that might randomly navigate to your site? Then go get writing!