100 Statements Concerning Me

My friend Sara recently offered up a challenge to write 100 things about oneself. While I had been thinking about creating a blog for a few weeks, it was this idea that really intrigued me. How hard would this really be? I had to find out for myself. I have been jotting down a list all day, and have come to the conclusion that this is a medium hard task that I enjoyed because it really made me think and remember important things that have happened to me.

1. My writing utensil of choice is a mechanical pencil.

2. I love Oscar the Grouch . . . what an uninhibited personality.

3. I dislike walking around the house and discovering unexpected puddles, the result of a todder who doesn't seem to be ready to potty train.

4. One of my favorite childhood toys were Little People.

5. I have been converted and love dishwashers now that I have the priveledge of using one.

6. I dislike computerized musical toys.

7. My husband and I recently discovered that paint chip samples are not completely accurate in their shade of color.

8. There is something purple in almost every room in my house.

9. I delight in watching the natural process of emergent writing and literacy in preschoolers.

10. I do not own a television. This makes me happy.

11. I despise numbers and hate having to be in charge of family finances.

12. Currently I am lamenting the fact that last spring my daughter fell off the piano bench backwards and broke the hinge, making opening and closing the lid to the bench very cumbersome.

13. I like hiking to a good waterfall.

14. One of the main factors that keeps me from practicing the clarinet regularly (like a good person would) is the fact that my mouth cramps up and feels like it is going to twist off. Although, I do realize that if I did practice regularly this effect would be minimized. No pain, no gain.

15. There are few things more comfy than down comforters and flannel sheets, I believe.

16. One of my favorite places to hang out is the hammock swing under a large tree in my backyard.

17. I hate excersize machines, although I enjoy walking, biking, swimming, and rollerblading on reletively flat land.

18. I had the smallest head in my graduating class of six people.

19. A good glass of milk is very enjoyable to me.

20. I wish you could buy a roll of postage stamps that were not all printed in the design of American flags or strange waterfowl.

21. I think I might have made an excellent children's librarian.

22. Back to school season makes me want to buy pens, pencils, large reems of paper and makes me miss teaching.

23. I do not, however, miss dealing with parents who scream and yell at you in public venues such as a large gymnasium filled with other parents during parent teacher conferences.

24. Somtimes at night after my daughter goes to bed I build fantastic palaces with her wooden building blocks.

25. I really don't care for cell phones except for emergency puposes.

26. I'm addicted to rubber stamping.

27. Long ago I memorized the recipe for my mother's chocolate chip cookies and have recently been experimenting with the addition of oatmeal. I like the effect.

28. I use my bread machine frequently.

29. I hate getting sunburned.

30. Although I'd like to be a person who wears summer hats, it just hasn't worked out.

31. I don't like living in an air conditioned environment, except for extreme circumstances.

32. Some people have a passion for collecting knick knacks. I have a passion for collecting books and musical instruments.

33. I believe the practice of folding laundry should be abandoned. Dirty clothes should be dumped in a bin labeled dirty. Clean clothes should be dumped in a bin labled clean. You sort through the bin for the clothes you need.

34. My favorite ages so far have been six and twenty.

35. I sleep with feather pillows even though my in-laws insist that they are graveyards for the corpses of millions of dust mites.

36. I believe in a very minimal collection of good shoes.

37. I am a crhonic, hard core garage sale shopper.

38. I detest onions and garlic, both in taste and smell.

39. Someday I hope to own a grand piano and an expensive wooden Buffet bass clarinet

40. I like dressing my children in fleece more than 9 months of the year.

41. I often seem to have an itchy nose.

42. I'd love to have a cat, but I fear I am not clean enough.

43. I'm petrified of snakes.

44. I dread tornadoes.

45. Fires make me panic.

46. I would like to ride in a hot air balloon, preferrably in the fall when the leaves are changing.

47. I have a very big heart for feeder goldfish and try to rescue them from becoming lunch as often as my aquarium space allows. Plus, they are cheap pets.

48. My favorite letter of the alphabet is Z.

49. It makes me angry when others are cruel to large sized individuals.

50. I have a general distaste for popular people.

51. I like to suprise people by wearing crazy socks.

52. Those who speak entire conversations in movie quotes tend to alienate me.

53. I am a fan and supporter of libraries. What a wonderful concept.

54. Someday I'd like to live in a Victorian house. The attic will be my personal space.

55. When I got married my teeth began turning black until I discovered a high quality electric toothbrush.

56. I've nevery really enjoyed mowing the lawn, and am grateful that my husband doesn't mind this chore.

57. Other people's lawnmowers make me feel guilty and unproductive.

58. My favorite flowers are tulips and irises, and I generally dislike geraniums.

59. Sadly, I have never mastered the art of standing on my head.

60. I enjoy large, shady trees.

61. I miss watching thunderstorms approach on the treeless prairie.

62. I think insects are highly interesting, and somewhat neglected little creatures.

63. My favorite science labs involved dissected live earthworms and chicken embryos whose hearts were still beating. I have questions about how ethical this is.

64. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in the back wall inside a cow's eyeball. (another science lab)

65. I have an eleven year old lucky rotten orange, which I carefully have preserved in several layers of zip loc bags and store in my cedar chest.

66. Only once have I sandbagged, in college. After I was finished, my arms were so weak I could not carry my lunch tray in the cafeteria.

67. It is quite possible that my garage is bigger than my house.

68. I like wind.

69. I once went trick or treating as an adolescent with a bag of candy which I distributed to the homes I visited instead of taking candy from them. This royally confused the little old ladies in the small town which I grew up in.

70. As a toddler, one day in church I removed my little black dress shoe and threw it across the sanctuary, where it hit an old lady in the back of the head and knocked off her wig. My parents were mortified.

71. I am trying not to be disturbed by the creeping jenny weeds which are overtaking my lawn.

72. I believe in early evening bedtimes for all small children.

73. I dislike the month of August, and enjoy June and October.

74. My feet grew two complete sizes during my first pregnancy and haven't returned.

75. I wish I had the patience to sew a quilt.

76. I still own my first pair of pointy scissors distributed to me in kindergarten.

77. I never wanted to get my driver's license.

78. In high school I crashed the car into the garage twice within the time span of one week.

79. I don't speak well on the telephone.

80. I don't like digital pianos.

81. I love thinking of crazy names when I purchase a new goldfish.

82. I once had braces and lost two retainers. One was ground up in a garbage disposal, and another was sat on by a large person. After this I gave up on retainers, and I have slightly crooked bottom teeth which could have been perfectly straight.

83. My dream is to teach Kindermusik and private kindergarten in a custom built classroom located in a treehouse.

84. I used to be a chronically early person until I married my husband, a chronically late person, and now I am barely on time.

85. I dislike vertical blinds.

86. I inherited an expensive set of waterless cookware, but I have not yet been able to understand what the purpose is of cooking vegetables in less water. They seem to taste the same. So I use the amount of water an average person would.

87. Raw carrots and broccoli taste very bitter to me, but I enjoy them steamed.

88. A nice hardwood floor brings a smile to my face.

89. I hope I don't develop skin tags in old age.

90. I learned to have a large, deep alto voice by singing over 9 screeching sopranos in church choir, known as the screaming meanies. There was only one other (quiet) alto.

91. When in Europe for choir tour in college I ate splendid ice cream every day for lunch.

92. In elementary school I was teased for having big lips, but I can't figure out why others thought them to be oversized. They seem normal to me.

93. I'm working on fluency in the very highest notes the flute is capable of playing. It's quite possible the piercing sounds may shatter the living room picture window.

94. I once deveoped a limited secret code language of vegetable and cheese words. Cheese meant hellow, cucumbers meant "see you later have a terrific day" and green bean stood for smelly football players.

95. I avoid football players, even today.

96. I never went to the prom.

97. A good fairy tale is fun to read.

98. I don't wear a watch.

99. The one Christmas present I really, really wanted but never got was a red speak and spell.

100. I have 3 cookie sheets covered in magnetic poetry under my bed.