Seven Strange Things About Me Meme

Do you have any idea how long it has been since I have done a meme? I don't even know if I remember how to do a meme. I have been tagged for a few in the past few months, but kept forgetting to do them. But for this one, I've been tagged twice. Once by Lei (quite awhile ago actually) and then again this week by Sherry. Everyone is on the bandwagon for this one, so I'll go ahead and do it.

Seven Strange Things About Me!

1. I'm a girl. No....that is not the strange thing. But I am girl who does not like to shop. I know. Close those jaws. Maybe it's not that I don't like to shop.....I just never have the money to enjoy shopping and I'm not one of those who likes to wander through the mall looking at things that I wish I could afford. Call me crazy.

2. I'm a girl. I'm a very low maintenance girl. I have my ears pierces, but rarely wear earrings (that could possibly be because I consistently lose my earrings). I rarely wear necklaces. I don't own a watch. Never wear rings....a majority of the time I don't even wear my wedding ring. I don't polish my nails. I don't wear toe rings. I wear make up, though. If I have the time.

3. I have a wierd issue with losing socks. Half the time, if I know that it's not a possibility that people will be seeing my socks, I will just grab two socks whether they match or not and put them on. Hey.....if no one can see them......

4. I'm a girl. I'm a girl who is not a fan of the "chick flicks". Give me an action/adventure; horror; drama; suspense movie anytime. Rarely will you see me spending money on a comedy or a chick flick. Unless it's a movie I'm buying for my kids.

5. I'm a girl. I'm a girl who hates to talk on the phone. I avoid it at all costs. I spend eight hours a day at work talking on the phone, but even before I had this job I didn't really like it. I did when I was in high school, but somehow that whole thing changed after I graduated. I don't know why.

6. I have never in my life mowed a lawn. Never my parents, and never my own. I think I should probably learn. I'm allergic to grass, though, so it could be a miserable experience for me.

7. This might not be considered wierd, but I'm stretching here to think of any more. I hate seafood. Anything that comes from the water and lands on a plate will not enter this mouth. Ever. Never not in a million years. I think I'd rather starve.

And that's it. My first meme in months. I haven't seen a single person out there who has not done this meme, so I'm not even going to try to tag anyone. But if you haven't done it, consider yourself tagged and let me know you did it so I can go read yours! Happy Friday and happy long weekend! (If you get one!)

Back In the Summer of '89

Or was it the summer of '90? Yes, I believe it was the summer of '90 because I was 15 at the time and had just gotten my driver's permit and thought I was hot "you-know-what"! My Mom has a picture of me sitting in our ultra cool mini van, sporting Tom Cruise "Top Gun" type shades and flashing my brand new permit at the camera. Oh, yes. I was it!

That summer, our family headed to Wisconsin for the first of two family reunions that year. This was a reunion with my dad's side of the family (the reunion I went to a couple of weeks ago was my mom's side of the family). Anyhoo....I was anxious to go, because not only did I get to hang out with my cool cousin "T" (which is what I will refer to her in this post for the sake of anonymity) for two weeks at a lake, but since I was an official and legal driver, that meant that I got to break in the new driver's permit by helping drive out there. Oh, yes...I was pumped.

At this particular time in my life, I happened to be just mildly obsessed with a young and popular boy band. You may have heard of them. They were called "New Kids On The Block". It was just a mild obsession. As luck would have it, my cousin T was also mildly obsessed. I cured her mild obsession, however, and cranked it up to fever pitch during our little visit to Wisconsin.

We spent long and glorious summer days sitting on the dock at the lake fantasizing about our dream-boat famous boys. My man was Jordan, hers was Joe. (If you are unfamiliar with these boys, then google 'em. For real. Go do it now.) We imagined what it would be like to meet them and of course knew without a shadow of a doubt that if these boys were to ever meet us, their days of singing "Please Don't Go Girl" would be over, and they would be singing "I'll be Loving You Forever" and "The Right Stuff" for the remainder of their days to us. I mean, who could resist us?! Really.

T and I decided that this fantasizing stuff was for the birds, and we absolutely must turn fantasy into reality. Besides, we were being totally mis-treated by the adults at the family reunion and we were sick of it. We were ready to go be with the men that we knew were just waiting for us, they just didn't realize it yet.

So, we set the plan in motion. I pulled out my trusted copies of "Teen Beat" and "BOP" magazines to find out where they were on their tour at this time. We found the closest location we could and decided that was to be our destination. Connecticut. That is were we decided we must go. We figured out the mileage from Wisconsin to Connecticut, how long it would take us to get there, and how much gas it would take to get there. We didn't need to worry about gas or mileage on our way back, because....well, we weren't coming back. Nope. We were going to hook up with the boys in CT, and naturally since they would fall in love with us, we would just join them on their tour.

Since I was a "legal" driver at that time, we decided I would be the one to drive, therefore we would use my family's mini-van. "How was the rest your family going to get home", you ask? We don't know. We weren't thinking about minor details such as those.

"But what are we going to do about money?" T and I thought. Well, we'll take our parent's credit cards, and any cash we can find. That ought to cover us until we get to CT and our suga-daddies can start paying for everything we need. Then we'll send their credit cards back to them.

So, we did just that. We secured the cards and some cash, packed our bags, and threw them outside the bedroom windows so that we could avoid making noise in the middle of the night when we left. We were all set.

Then the middle of the night came. T and I were ready to go....we thought. "Are we ready to go?" T asked. "Ummm...not so much, maybe." I say. As with all grand scheme type ideas I had ever come up with when I was a young'un, this one was a lot more fun to plan than to execute. The ramifications of all this plan entailed started to enter into my thought process. Why had the ramifications never entered in before? Well, probably because I never thought we'd actually go through with it. And here we were, the eve of the great "NKOTB Getaway" with the plan all set in motion, and I was starting to panic. The credit cards....the suitcases....we were sure to get caught. How would we replace and/or hide all evidence of this highly thought up scheme before the parentals woke up in the morning?

Well, we didn't. And we got caught. And we got punished. BIG TIME. I got to spend the remaining days of our vacation sitting inside my lake-shore cabing watching everyone water-ski and frolic in the water. The fact that we begged and pleaded withour parents and told them it was just a plan and we didn't intend to go through with it fell like dead weight on their ears. It did no good whatsoever. Suffice it to say, I lost all driving priveledges for the remainder of the summer.

You'd think this whole deal would have soured my love for the group that caused me to go temporarily insane, but oh no. My love withstood the trauma, thanks to die-hard friends back home and constant correspondence between T and I, who had become known to our family members as "Partners in Crime".

"Why", you may ask, "are you telling me this story that has forever altered how I feel about you, Kristen?" Well, because T was visiting us this weekend on her way to another family reunion, and of course, everytime we are in the same room together, the story has to be told again. and again. and again. We now just roll our eyes at eachother and nonchalantly plug our children's ears. "How could we have been so stupid." We always say.

I Am From

Here is my "I Am From" poem that Mary challenged everyone to do.

I AM FROM

I am from clean, crisp sweet smelling sheets fresh out of the laundry, from just cleaned Pine-Sol floors and from chirping trees outside my bedroom window.

I am from the yellow house with white trim at the end of the cul-de-sac, the trim of hedges around the lawn and the freshly mowed grass.

I am from family game night, opinionated people who are always right and two sets of grandparents who are still around.

I am from forgetfulness and godliness.

From don’t sit too close to the TV or your eyes will cross and no playing outside until homework is done.

I am from a long line of Nazarenes and from the same church I grew up in. My children now go to the same church and play in the same nursery I did as a child.

I’m from Colorado and Sweden, spaghetti and homemade chocolate chip cookies.

From the mom and dad who were both pastors’ kids and moved around every two years with their family, the mom and dad who grew up in two different religions but joined together once married and the stubborn brow line on my mom’s side of the family.

I am from hundreds of thick photo albums, and boxes full of crafts, school papers, journals and other mementos that reflect years of love, fun, thoughts and family.

I am from a family of laughs and love.

An Angel in Disguise...and another meme!

I have been tagged for the "6 wierd things about me" meme by Maine Mom. So that will be coming at the end (to give me time to think about some wierd stuff). But first, I must discuss the angel that I have living in my house that is disguised as a "Fiesty" almost two year old. I truly do not believe I have ever met a more sensitive, un-selfish, caring and loving two year old than my little Fiesty. Sometimes I look at her and I think to myself, "God has truly given me an angel. I can almost see the halo above her head." This is a child who would rather help mommy clean, do dishes, vacuum, and help with laundry rather than play. This is a child who consistently gets her own toys taken away from her by her sometimes bullyish older sister, and hands them away to her to simply keep the peace. This is a child, who when requesting a snack, a juice, or something at the store for herself then insists on getting her sister one as well. It isn't even in her thought process to keep the treat all to herself. She wants to share the joy of her treat. This is a child who when she wakes up in the morning immediately starts asking for her sister before she does anything else. This is a child who, when I pummeled my head on the corner of the kitchen table the other night, heard me yelp, came up to me with a concerned look on her face, rubbed my head and asked me, "OK? Ahhh...Mommy", then kissed my head. This is a child, who while laying in bed with me one night had a blanket covering herself, looked over at me, covered up my legs and said, "Have some?"

I could go on and on and on bragging about my sweet little Fiesty, but I won't make you all puke in your trash cans. I was just thinking about her last night and all of the things I see her do in one day, and all the ways she amazes me at her capacity for love, empathy and sharing at such a young age and I had to share. My other two are amazing in their own ways as well. But this is how my Fiesty is special. She has a heart as big as all of Texas and as pure as gold. I just hope she stays this way; my little angel (but then again....I doubt angels bite....)

And now the six wierd things meme:

1. Some people may not find this wierd, but my husband does. I hate fish and any type of food that comes from the sea or any other body of water. Keep.It.Away.

2. I wear mismatched socks often because I am constantly losing socks. As long as they are similar in color and style, I'll wear 'em. (But usually cover them with shoes that don't make the unmatching socks visible).

3. I don't enjoy cooking. I'm no good at it (except for the things I cook all the time), I can never come up with new and exciting things for my family, and it's just too time consuming. If I had the luxury of having a full time cook, I'd hire one in a heart beat.

4. I get nervous talking on the phone to people; except when it's job related. I can talk to people I don't know with no problem; put me on the phone with someone I've known forever, and I get uncomfortable. I'd rather communicate via e-mail or writing any day.

5. I want to be an Interior Designer, but have never once watched any of those design shows on TV (i.e. Trading Spaces, Extreme Home Makeover, etc.)

6. I turn my space heater on in my office under my desk in the middle of the summer. Maybe if facilities wouldn't blast the air conditioner so high in my office, I wouldn't have to do this. But I do, therefore am considered "wierd" by several co-workers who aren't as cold-blooded as me.

That's my wierdness. I'm sure there are many more, but in a time crunch here, so that's what I came up with. :-)

Who should I tag?? Hmmm....
How about: J.D., Sherry, Amanda, and Diane.

I've Been Tagged

Several days ago, as a matter of fact. But since I am only a "part time" blogger, this is the first opportunity I've had to do it. I could have walked the 100 feet to my parents house this weekend to use their computer, but it was Easter weekend. Who had the time?! Anyway, I got tagged by my wonderful aunt, Morning Glory, so here it is:

4 Jobs I've had in My Life

1. Little Caesar's Pizza (first ever job)
2. KFC (second job that lasted off and on through high school and college)
3. Chemical Engineering Department (my first job on this campus)
4. Admissions (my current job on campus, and longest job I've held).

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over

1. Erin Brockovich
2. Legally Blonde
3. Can't Buy Me Love
4. Never Been Kissed

4 Websites I Visit Regularly

1. Family website
2. About a million blogs
3. TV Guide Online
4. Dustin's Days Page (summaries of Days of Our Lives)

4 Favorite Foods

1. My mom's spaghetti
2. Pizza
3. Peanut butter sandwiches
4. My mom's lasagna

4 Places I Would Rather Be Right Now

1. On a tropical beach
2. Bed
3. On a boat
4. At home with my kids

4 Books I Could Read Over and Over

1. Betsy/Tacy books
2. Anne of Green Gables books
3. Sweet Valley High Series(back in H.S. I read them over and over...not so much now.)
4. Beverly Cleary books....can't wait to read these to my girls!!

4 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over

1. Anything by Lifehouse
2. Anything by Vertical Horizon
3. The songs on the tape my husband made me.
4. Behind These Hazel Eyes by Kelly Clarkson

4 Reasons Why I Blog

1. It's fun
2. Everyone I knew was doing it...I couldn't be left out.
3. Every experience I have seems to become a "bloggable" topic.
4. It's a great way to meet other people like me. :-)

So, there you have it! I guess I'll tag Rachelle, Snickers, and Maine Mom.

Tagged on Friday

I picked up this Tag at Morning Glory's spot. Since I have yet to come up with a blog topic for today this early in the morning, I'm going the easy way out and doing this for now. :-) Copy and paste it to your blog and tag me if you do it! :-)

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE? On a beautiful, secluded beach by the ocean.

2. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING? Comfy sweats and sweatshirt.

3. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT? Kelly Clarkson

4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? My kids dictate that. Anywhere from 5:30 a.m.- 9:00 a.m.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE? My dishwasher

6. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE? I play piano and flute.

7. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV? SUV, baby! (Ask me again in 20 years).

8. DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH? YES

9. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK? Goodnight Moon.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? Fall

11. WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR? An assortment of bags and boxes leftover from hauling Christmas presents home from various locations.

12. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER? Hamburger. I don't do sushi!

13. WHO DID YOU RECEIVE THIS FROM? Seeds From My Garden.

14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER? Roses

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Anything with Chocolate!

16. POPCORN? Yes, but I have to be in a certain mood.

17. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? It changes all the time. Blue for now.

18. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU DRIVE? Saturn

19. FAVORITE SANDWICH? Peanut Butter or turkey and cheese.

20. HOW MANY PETS DO YOU HAVE? None

21. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Fort Collins, CO

22. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Football (but only if the Denver Broncos are playing)!

23. FAVORITE TV SHOW? Friends (always) and American Idol

24. FAVORITE MOVIE? Anything with Reese Witherspoon!