100 things about me

So, I've tossed this around for a few days...let's see if I can make 100...

1. I am the youngest of 5 kids.

2. I was born on my Father's birthday. (August 17)

3. I can't eat fresh apples or peaches, which I love, because of an allergic reaction that I have.

4. I love red wine, but it tends to give me headaches, not headaches AFTER drinking it, but headaches WHILE drinking it.

5. I lived in Palm Beach for 5 years in my 20s.

6. I had one of the best fake ids in high school. It worked all the way until I was 21 and didn't need it anymore.

7. I am an eternal optimist.

8. I love living alone, even though I haven't lived alone in 15 years.

9. I have an extreme aversion to anything medical or dental.

10. As a result, I haven't been to the doctors in 4 years.

11. I can be quite claustrophobic.

12. I played viola and cello in grade school.

13. When I was pregnant, all I wanted was a little girl. To this day, I am still not sure what how deeply devastated I would have been if the ultrasound showed I was having a boy. Thankfully, I didn't have to find out.

14. Part of me thinks if ever there was a massive shift in my life, I could easily pack up and leave this country.

15. I can't watch kid's movies where animals are mistreated or die (My Dog Skip, FORGET IT!!)

16. I love Jane Austen novels.

17. I am so proud of the little girl my baby has grown into.

18. I love the sunrises I see from my bed each morning.

19. Someone stalked me when I lived in Palm Beach, to this day, I have no idea who it was. It still freaks me out a bit.

20. I love Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies.

21. I don't actually mind Hannah Montana, and I'm well over the age of her target audience.

22. I don't care one bit what other people think.

23. I REALLY enjoy doing what I can to make other people happy.

24. I drink 2 glasses of wine each night, one before/during dinner and one during/after.

25. I saw the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy in 1987. Yes, we did have a bottle of Brass Monkey for shots before the show. I still have the long sleeved T-shirt, and still wear it from time to time.

26. I don't enjoy steak or beef in the slightest, but when I was pregnant, I ate it at least once or twice a week, and LOVED it!

27. I am a loyal, dependable friend.

28. My heart has been absolutely broken twice in my lifetime - it took me years to get over it each time.

29. I have barely spoken to and rarely seen one of my sisters in the last 20 years, and don't regret it in the least. I honestly feel my life is better without her in it.

30. I was married before, I moved out 1 month before our 1 year wedding anniversary, and was divorced before what would have been our 2 year anniversary.

31. I was in the hospital for a week when I was 7, they never did figure out what was wrong with me. They even sent samples to the CDC, and there still wasn't an answer. Some water-borne viral infection. I never took swimming lessons at the Town Pool again.

32. I love my job. I think you've heard that one before. ;)

33. I am amazed at people who can walk away from friends and friendships without explanation. This has happened 3 times in my life. I still don't understand why in any of the circumstances.

34. I am married to a textbook pessimist.

35. The first thing I say each morning to my spouse is "It's a WONDERFUL day!" I know he hates it, I do it anyhow, hoping one day my optimism will stick.

36. I would die if anything happened to Anna.

37. I love the Harry Potter books, and hated how JK Rowling ended the last book.

38. I knit.

39. I don't drink shots anymore. I tend to forget things when they enter the equation.

40. I have never seen the movie The Wizard of Oz from beginning to end.

41. I take lousy pictures.

42. I have a friend that has been my friend since we were 7, that's 32 years ago.

43. This same friend wants us to do the Amazing Race next year to celebrate our turning 40.

44. I have never liked Halloween, even as a kid.

45. I need my sleep.

46. I am ridiculously allergic to birch trees, yet I insisted Eric not cut a single one down on our house lot. Since we moved here 5 years ago, they all have died anyhow.

47. I do believe in the spirits of our loved ones staying with us after they have died.

48. I obsessively pull out white hairs from my head.

49. I am a bit of a germaphobe.

50. Fireworks at the Brockton Fair misfired into a tree above me (which promptly caught fire) when I was a kid. I will watch fireworks displays now, but only from inside the house or a car.

51. I live for hot, humid weather.

52. I was such a tomboy when I was little, my oldest brother and his friends used to call me "Joe", and I loved it.

53. I have 2 tattoos.

54. I worry about many things, all the time. I'm sure many of my friends would never catagorize me as a worrier in a million years.

55. I love conspiracy theories. I always finish listening and think to myself "you know, it IS possible..."

56. I once was so sick on vodka, orange juice with a "splash" of grenadine. To this day, I can't SMELL grenadine without feeling a little woozy.

57. Same with Ouzo and Sambuca.

58. I despise it when people who haven't seen me (or one of my sisters) in a long time think I am her, or say how MUCH I look like her. (I don't.) I enjoy it however, when that sister attends the same party, and the person sees how wrong they actually were. ;)

59. I love The Sound of Music & sing along with all the songs.

60. In one 18 month span of time in the late 1980s I knew 6 young people who died in 5 separate circumstances.

61. I refuse to wear a seatbelt because one of my friends died that year because they couldn't get him out of a car wreck. He bled to death, wearing his seatbelt.

62. Oddly enough, I insist my child be in the best booster seat I can find. and until she's 4'10" and 90 lbs. This occasionally turns into an arguement with Eric, who thinks I've lost my mind.

63. I occasionally have flashes of things to come. Not often, but every now and then.

64. I lost at "Corporate Survivor" once and have vowed never to play again.

65. I still have clothes in my closet from high school. Many of them are 21+ years old. I occasionally wear some of them.

66. I can knit socks 2 at a time, on one needle. Yes, I am actually proud of this...

67. I hate cherries and cherry flavored anything.

68. I always wanted a Big Wheel, and never, ever got one.

69. I don't like to be near cows or horses. There's just something about them. That, and they usually poop when I'm standing nearby.

70. I'm allergic to cats.

71. My very first after school job was being a "Latch Key Camp" counselor when I was in 9th grade. Every day after school in the winter/spring of that year, I'd serve apple juice and animal crackers to the kids who went there after school. I hated it. The kids were major brats.

72. I babysat for a little girl who died of SIDS. (thank GOD I wasn't babysitting when it happened)

73. I absolutely LOVE Christmas.

74. While I am not a cryer, I easily tear up.

75. I have never done any kind of recreational drugs. (REALLY.. NEVER!)

76. I have two pretty big dogs.

77. I once had a card reading done by a Cuban lady, and she hit the nail on the head more than once. I still can't get over the details she got right!

78. I used to have a size 8 1/2 narrow foot, after I had Anna, it moved to a size 9 narrow.

79. I make a pretty good margarita.

80. I hate soda.

81. I believe that if everyone who "could" adopt a child in this world DID, it would change a generation.

82. I don't think I'm really a Republican or a Democrat, I agree with things from each side. This makes it hard in November.

83. I think corned beef hash looks and smells like dog food.

84. I like to play Bingo, and I'm over the age of 10 and under the age of 75.

85. Heifer International is the best charity of all time.

86. I am an extremely aggressive competitor in sports.

87. I love to read, but have fallen for a well read audio book or two lately!

88. I think this commercial for the Discovery Channel kind of sums up my outlook.

89. I always drive faster than the speed limit.

90. I have a "black thumb" which means, no plants survive longer than a week in my house.

91. I make a damned good homemade meat (pasta) sauce.

92. I love to scuba dive.

93. I routinely play the "what if?" game in my head.

94. I miss my Buddy-dog every single day.

95. I AM struggling with this list.

96. I used to be able to rattle off Hamlet's soliloquy...I've forgotten most of it now.

97. I miss sitting by the ocean in the middle of the night.

98. When I was little I wanted to be an astronaut.

99. I love Lancome's Savon Fraichelle, it's not a morning shower without it!

100. One of the hardest things I ever did was say goodbye to my Uncle last summer (almost exactly a year ago now) knowing I would never see him again. Harder still, was knowing how painful it was for my Dad, as we waited in the car for him.