Sunday September 5, 2004
Ok, to continue the “100 things about me” list….
12. Favorite color: I hate this question. People ask it all the time and I never know how to answer. It really depends on what you are talking about. It is easier to answer what my least favorite color is…that would be Orange. It was my school color and I wore it at least 3 or days out of five (sometimes more) in high school because I was a cheerleader and on the drill team…we either wore our cheerleading uniforms at least twice a week, and often had to wear orange and black for other things during the week. I never want to wear orange again…ever! The school had orange lockers, orange carpet, and orange walls. I never want to see orange in my living environment either. I am not a big fan of tan or brown either, unless it is a deep rich russet brown. The two colors that make it to the top of my list most consistently are cobalt blue and forest green. Well, actually, any color blue or green are good. I also really like red, and I have to be careful in decorating that I don’t end up with an Americana look because I am not a real fan of that look….especially an issue in my kitchen where most of my stuff is blue/white, but I when I buy an appliance I struggle to decide whether to get red or blue…lol…not that I am faced with that decision very often. Now, go into my living room and I have a deep purple/plum colored sofa and loveseat. Plum was the color I choose for my wedding and I really like that too. I also love bright yellow, but not as clothes (looks horrible on me). My childhood room was painted the brightest, most glow in the dark yellow you have ever seen. My mom tried to talk me out of it, but let me paint it that color anyway. My wedding quilt from my paternal Grandma has yellow and green embroidery because that was what I liked when she made it. My crocheted wedding blanket from my maternal Grandma is deep rose and dusty pinks on off white because that was my favorite palette when she asked me. lol. Our bedspread is a salmon/rose/rusty color with forest green accents since that is what I was into when I got married. I don’t think I will ever be able to choose my favorite color.
13. Infertility: I have struggled with infertility and issues surrounding it for most of my life at this point. I was diagnosed with Endo when I was 13. That really ruled much of my life though my teens and early 20s…the pain, the surgeries, the treatments. Planning your life around your period and dealing with issues more common for people 20 years your senior is difficult, especially when it is something you don’t feel comfortable talking about with peers…can you imagine discussing IF with a 13 year old? Around the time I got married (and since some more surgeries) I really haven’t had Endo pain for quite a few years now and it has really fallen to the background of my life, but IF came forward. My drs. don’t think my IF has anything to do with my history of Endo, but I am sure it doesn’t help. Unfortunately, I don’t have any idea what the actual problem is. The two times I was offered a d&c (where tissue would have been available to analyze) my insurance wouldn’t cover it and I couldn’t afford it. (actually, the second time I opted to have a natural miscarriage instead since I wasn’t covered by decent insurance…only crappy student insurance) It took me over 2 years of ttcing to even become pregnant…nfp, charting, clomid, robitussin, ect. Finally, I got pregnant, and within a week to 10 days I miscarried…..once I got to the point where you go in to see the heartbeat, except there wasn’t a heartbeat. My body should have aborted, but hadn’t yet…that was the time I got a d&c. Zane was my 8th pregnancy, and I was so depressed by that point that I didn’t really beleive I would have a baby. Pregnancy didn’t mean baby to me at that point. It wasn’t until the dr. told me that “if he is born tonight, he has better than a 50/50 chance of making it” that I really started to enjoy the pregnancy and accept that I was trully going to have a baby. It felt like a really short pregnancy. I actually wasn’t really ready for the pregnancy to be over yet and was in denial that I was in labor for a while. (He was just kicking REALLY hard…at an amazinly steady interval…hmmmmm). I have had one miscarriage since Zane, that was the second time I was offered a d & c but refused and had it naturally. I want to give Zane a sibling so badly. I want another baby so much it hurts. I see other people getting pregnant again so easily and it is hard. I know it isn’t as bad a primary infertility, but it is still very painful.
14. Favorite fiction: The Mist of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Other authors I really like are: Ray Bradbury, Michael Cricton, Kate Chopin, Jean Auel, Shakespeare, Stephen King (not his “slasher” books though), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Peirs Anthony (no opinion on Xanth Novels, haven’t read), Orson Scott Card, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Janette Oke ….hmmmm, I know there are a ton more, but that is all I can think of off the top of my head.
15. Favorite non-fiction: Dr. William Sears, Barbara Coloroso, Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish, Laura Ingalls Wilder (she also wrote a lot of essays for magazines), about any author of knitting books, Christine Pirello, and the Frugal Gormet guy for cookbook authors, oh I wish I could remember them all…basically, I read a lot of parenting & homemaking related books right now.
16. Least favorite authors: (I might read them, but it is usually torture) Ezzo, Ferber, & Dobson are at the top of my “these people are nuts” list. Dobson didn’t used to be there until I read one of his books, and see the titles of others….who wants to read a book called “Strong-willed child”… it makes the parent-child relationship sound adversaral from the get – go, no respect for the soul of the child. I won’t even get into Ezzo and Ferber…I flat out think these two creeps need to be arrested for advocating child abuse. I am not thrilled with Heidi E. Murkoff of the “what to expect…” series either.
17. Favorite musicians: James Galway, Barry Manilow, Depeche Mode, REM, , Amy Grant, Michael W Smith, Enya, Sting, Rich Mullins, Phil Coulter, Def Lepard, John Denver, Cake, Madonna, George Michael, Johnny Cash, Arrogant Worms, Raffi, Simon & Garfunkle, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Meridith Brooks, Greenday, Meatloaf, Celine Dion, Brian Adams, Shaman, Enigma, No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Blues Traveler, Ben Folds Five, Weezer, Natalie Imbruglia, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Harry Connick Jr, B52s, Chicago, Smiths, Tears for Fears, Air Supply, Journey, Bette Midler, Beach Boys, Carpenters, Eagles, Boston, Dan Fogelburg, Peter Paul & Mary, Corky and the Jucie Pigs, Monty Python, and the entire scores of Into the Woods, Les Miserables, and Fiddler on the Roof.
18. Food Quirks: I love nuts, but I dislike nuts in things. One of my favorite things in the world is fudge, but if you put nuts in it, I have to be pretty desperate to eat it. If I do eat it, I will suck all the fudge off the nuts and then eat the nuts once all the chocolate has dissolved. It just seems wrong to put something crunchy and hard in the middle of things like fudge, brownies, candy, and bannana bread. Nuts are only good naked. They do not belong on salads, or in soups, or in desserts, or in bread…no. It is just wrong.
19. Food Quirk II: I am allergic to onions. If I work with onions I sometimes get blisters on my skin, if I eat a raw onion, I get blisters in my mouth and throat and usually start weezing and throwing up. If I eat a something with just a little bit of onion, my symptoms range from throwing up to just getting a bad stomach ache and the runs. Onions are not my friends. Do you know that most people don’t think that green onions are onions. grrr. or leeks…have you ever seen a leek? Does it not look just like a giant green onion?!? No, I can not eat a leek, it is not an alternative to onion.
20. Food Quirk III: I prefer the surfaces of what I eat and drink from to be white. It is sort of hard for me to even eat off a colored plate, the food just looks wrong. Cups with dark colors in them make me a little nuts too because I can’t see if it is clean or if there is somethng living in there. When I told mom this as I was shopping for wedding china, she snorted in surprise…this is one of her MILs quirky things too.
21. My wedding china. I just love this set. It has a really nice shape, an nice weight to it, it stacks nicely in the cabinet, silverware doesn’t make obnoxious noises when you are eating from it, and the pattern is subtle enough that I don’t get tired of it. I use it every day. When Zane started getting old enough to want to eat off of plates, I looked at the non-breakable Corelle dishes, but decided I just couldn’t do it. I hate the feel of that Correlle stuff, the clicky sounds it makes when you are stacking it, and the horrendous sound of silverware scraping across it. (I know, this is weird, but I have this “texture” thing). I decided that I would just teach Zane how to handle it properly, and give him a different plate when he was too energetic to handle it the way I wanted him to. So far, this has worked fine. Every day, when I wash dishes, I think of the people who gave them to me. We only got 2 (count ‘em, TWO) sets of the silverware we registered for. That was from dh’s Dad and step-mom. Hopefully some day we will have the money to have more than two forks, knives, and spoons. lol. I still really want the set. We also got a set of Oneida silverware from my Grandma…it is brushed stainless steel. We actually had thought about registering the very set at Target, but decided not to. It figures that Grandma would pick out exactly the set we liked without having to ask us…we have the exact same taste. The other grandma gave me, among other things, a tea pitcher to match my china.
22. As I mentioned in some of my earilier posts, I have a “thing” with textures. When I walk around shopping for clothes, I feel everything. (actually, I reach out and feel almost everything in my envirnment, whether I am shopping or not) I won’t even consider buying something that doesn’t feel nice. I end up with a lot of tshirts that way. Oh, and I always have to cut the tags out of things. If the tag leaves a little edge that is scratchy even after it has been cut out, I have been known to rip it out and resew the thing shut before wearing it. There are some tags that are ok, but usually it is only on shirts where I can turn the tag up and hide the tag sticking up with my hair (what I do when I wear Zach’s shirts…I don’t want to rip out tags on his stuff). I also can’t knit with acrylic yarns (unless I find one soft enough…still looking) because I find myself clenching my jaw and pulling my tongue up to protect my teeth..the feel is like the sound of fingernails on chalkboard. I do fine with cotton and wool and even some that are blended with acrylic, but haven’t found any man-made fibers I can deal with. I also don’t like the click or feel of aluminum needles..has to be wood or bambo.
23. I have Fred Flinstone feet. Big and square. I have an awful time finding shoes that fit and wear Birkies almost exclusively. I have one pair of tennis shoes, one pair of black heels, Birki leather clogs, Birki PVC clogs, Birki sandles, and a tie up pair of Birkis. That is my entire shoe collection. Right now I don’t even have slippers because I wore holes into my only pair. I am hoping to knit and felt a pair for myself this winter.
24. I sing all the time, but I have a crummy voice. I sing with gusto, and Zane seems to emulate that. Hopefully, he will be blessed with a better voice. I could have been a famous performer if I would have only had a decent voice..lol. In musical theater, I could pull off the comedy singers..the people who had “character” voices, but I was never able to do it I had to sing straight because I just don’t have a nice full voice. In high school, when my voice was well practiced, I could sing from tenor up to second soprano, now I tend to sing more tenor and some alto because my voice squeaks when I go higher since I don’t work in that range much.
25. I can tell you the entire plot and probably the title of the episode if I see just 10 seconds of a Little House on the Prarie episode. It is sad, but true. I am a huge fan of Little House, even though it doesn’t follow the books much after the first season. I like the books a lot more and had them memorized before I hit jr high. You can’t imagine my excitement when I discovered a unit study (homeschool curriculla) focused around the Little House books. lol.
26. Favorite tv shows: CSI, Monk, Law & Order, Dr Phil, ER, Little House. Former favorites: Star trek, x-files, Fraiser, Mad about You, Rosanne, & MASH
27. Favorite foods: chocolate, cheese, steak (beef) pepperoni pizza with extra cheese and garlic sauce instead of tomato sauce, fondue, salty + sweet combos (chocolate malt with french fries dipped into it, saltines with chocolate frosting, chocolate covered pretzels), cheesecake, alfredo over cheese ravioli, Zach’s crabmeat manicotti, potatoes with butter, cheese, sour cream, and bacon bits. I can never be vegan. I should say, it would be very, very difficult for me to be vegan. Dairy and meat are my two favorite food groups. I try very hard to minimize them and eat more veggies, beans & rice, and fruits, but I struggle with it.
28. I hum when I eat foods I enjoy. I can’t help it. I didn’t even know I did it until a few years ago when dh’s aunt told me…and she is right.
