Because I loved the idea, which came from Kelly, Alan, and Annika, I am going to tell you 100 things you never knew you wanted to know about me.
1. I went by my middle name all my life because first names are “family names” in my family. My brother, my dad, my grandfather, and my cousin all have the same first name. I share a first name with my aunt. Kids in my classes were always asking me what my “real” name was. My real name was my middle name. My first name was something else. When I got married, I got rid of the aunt’s name, moved my middle name to the first, kept my maiden name as a middle, and added my husband’s name as a last.
2. I was conceived in Flagstaff, Arizona.
3. I was born in Plainview, Texas because the doctors at the Lubbock hospital would not admit my mother because she was so young.
4. My mother was 15 when she got married and 16 when she had me.
5. No, I was not conceived before the wedding.
6. My parents had no intention of having kids that early, but my mother’s doctor said she was too young to get pregnant and told her to come back in three months. By then she was pregnant. With me.
7. My brother was conceived on the IUD and my middle sister on the pill. So even if he (the doctor) hadn’t been totally stupid, I might still be here.
8. My dad is a transplanted Okie. He loves Texas.
9. My mom was born in California, but grew up in Flagstaff. She does not love Texas. She does, however, love my dad, so she lives here anyway.
10. I first held a book when I was two weeks old. It was a college physics book and the cat and I tried to read it together.
11. When I was little (one year old) I went to UT with my dad because my mom was too sick to take care of me. I sat behind him in class and turned the pages in his law books for entertainment.
12. When I first saw children’s books, I said they were not “real” books because they had pictures in them. –I now like pictures if they are drawn in styles I enjoy.
13. I made lunch for my mother everyday when I was 14 months old. We had peanut butter a lot. My mom was pregnant again and very ill.
14. I was supposed to stay with my grandparents while my brother was born, but my brother started coming early and, in his hurry to get home to my mother who didn’t have a car and couldn’t drive anyway, my father picked me up and put me back in the car. We were several hours gone by the time he realized he was supposed to leave me. (Tha’s when I went to UT with him.)
15. I remember falling and cutting my head when I was two. I was on a rocking horse on some pavers in front of a house in Austin, Tx.
16. I remember falling down the church stairs when I was two. It was University Church of Christ in Austin, TX. They have painted the wood and changed the carpet color, but I remember the stairwell.
17. I remember being attacked by the cat (not Francoise, but a descendant) over and over again when I was two. My parents thought I was sitting on the cat, which Francoise had let me do. The cat was smart and never attacked when my parents were in the room.
18. His mistake was finally made when he attacked me outside and my mother was in the neighbor’s yard watching me. No more Mr. Bad Cat. I am, however, still mostly afraid of cats. I have also developed very bad allergies to them, which keeps most people from knowing about the phobia.
19. I love trees. Big old oaks or pecans are my favorites, but any tree will do in a pinch.
20. I love sunsets and sunrises. I don’t like to drive during them, but I like to look at them.
21. I have lived in 17 different cities in my life.
22. I have lived in one city six different times and one city three different times and one city twice.
23. The longest I have ever lived in any one city consequetively is four and a half years.
24. The longest I have ever lived in one building without moving is three and a quarter years. I live in that place now. So unless I update this by moving, the time I’ve spent in one place will continue to get longer.
25. I met my husband in Abilene. At the time he was in college and I was in grad school somewhere else.
26. I like most kinds of music, but I don’t like any one kind of music well enough to listen to it all the time. I like polkas, reggae, country, blues, jazz, rock, country western, and classical. I don’t like heavy metal, although there was a time when I did. I don't like rap at all.
27. The only time I have ever danced, on a dance floor was at my husband’s 20th High School reunion. I did a slow dance with him and a fast dance with a girlfriend. Since I don’t know how to dance, I just did whatever anyone else was doing. There were about twelve of us on the floor.
28. I have three siblings but only one nephew born. I do have another on the way. (Congrats to S and M, the parents, and A, the big brother!)
29. I prefer chocolate over vanilla, but I also love strawberry. As a kid, I always went for the sherberts in ice cream. Nowadays, I don't do much ice cream. But give me a doughnut and I’ll get a sugar high.
30. One of my goals, a relatively new one, is to furnish my home in nice furniture and beautiful art. I have lots of beautiful art, so that isn’t too hard. The nice furniture, however, is quite a few years off.
31. I collect children’s books.
32. I collect blue depression era glass.
33. I collect art I like. I have a Tarkayserigraph and a print and two Treby's, both Artist Proofs.
34. I also have an oil by a wonderful painter from Canada who signed his work but I can’t read it.
35. My other favorite piece in the house is a tiny orange oil with a hummingbird painted by an artist in Austin.
36. I like Coca Cola, but dislike RC and Pepsi.
37. I prefer Dr. Pepper.
38. My favorite mixed drink is Hawaiian Punch and Sprite.
39. Though I once drank a bottle of vodka in one sitting, the most I drink these days is a frozen Strawberry Daquiri. I actually prefer it without the alcohol.
40. Zio’s used to be one of my favorite places to eat, but they took the food I like off the menu and started serving herbs and oil instead of butter. (If I wanted Macaroni Grill, I could go there.)
41. My favorite steak house is Saltgrass, but it's like the little girl with the little curl. When it’s good it’s very very good, but when it is bad it is horrid.
42. I prefer Burger King over McDonald’s, like 1000 to 1.
43. I’ve been skinny dipping, in a lake, when I was in college. It was a mixed bathing forum.
44. My favorite color is royal blue. Growing up my favorite color was royal purple.
45. I have been to Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, and Belgium.
46. I have not been to Italy, England, Ireland, Scotland, or Portugal, even though I have wanted to go there.
47. If I could take my family to one place in the world for a vacation, it would be to New Zealand. I’ve been told it is more beautiful than any country in the world.
48. When I was little my parents seriously considered moving to Australia. The reason we didn’t go is my dad knew he wouldn’t have the money to get us back here again if he didn’t like it.
49. My favorite pair of shoes are my black high heels with the rhinestones. The heels are three inches and the shoes are still comfortable.
50. I've always wanted to go back to New York (where I spent my high school years) to live. I haven’t ever done it and I probably never will.
51. Autumn is my favorite season.
52. Crisp cool mornings are my favorite time of day.
53. I am not a morning person. But I don't mind getting up early, it just takes going to bed earlier.
54. My most remembered grade in a college class is a C. It was in a genetics class. You were supposed to have a year of college chemistry and a year of college biology to get into the class. I had never in my life had chemistry. I got in anyway. It was a summer course. There were over 50 students in the beginning of the class. Seven passed. I was one of them.
55. My lowest grade in high school was also a C. I still made the honor roll every quarter. (Only because they didn’t count PE, though.) The C was in geometry class. I tried and tried but I could not get it. The final was the state required final and so was multiple guess. I got an 83 on it and passed the class. It was the first test I had passed all year.
56. I loved rain until we bought a house in Austin. Then my husband was always sure something got left open. Then here in Houston our roof was leaking. I will soon get over it, though, and go back to liking rain. We did get the roof redone after all.
57. I love to hike in the mountains.
58. I love to be in the mountains.
59. When I get to heaven, I want to live in the mountains. It won’t be heaven without mountains.
60. Of course, I don't think it will be heaven without sex, either, so that's a problem.
61. My favorite meal is Mexican steak. It's steak simmered all day in a sauce of ketchup, mustard, Worchestershire, butter, onions, garlic, and water. It's great over rice.
62. My favorite dessert is hot brownies with cold ice cream and chocolate and caramel sauce on them.
63. Another favorite dessert, which I don't get very often, is pineapple upside down cake.
64. I wear size 10 shoes. (I used to wear 8 and a half, but…)
65. I also wear size 10 clothes.
66. I like to ride my bike when the weather is cool.
67. My family lives in Texas and NC. (Two sibs in NC. One and my parents in TX.)
68. Both my grandmother's lived to be in their late 80s. So did two of my greatgrandmothers. I expect to live that long as well.
69. I was named after a girl my dad had a crush on in high school. My husband wanted to name our daughter after a gril he had a crush on in middle school. Thankfully, we didn't have any girls.
70. One of my goals is to go back to full time college teaching when I am 47.
71. All the carpet in my house is a dark green.
72. Since we moved in and decorated, our style has changed a bit. The accent color in every room except the kitchen and the bathrooms is now red. There was no red in our decor when we first bought the house three and a half years ago. Now we have a whole room painted in that color.
73. My Christmas present last year was an antique sideboard in Tiger Oak. My adopted grandmother (91 this year) remembers one just like it in her grandmother's house.
74. I wish my hair were naturally curly and red. Two of my three sibs have naturally curly hair and my relations on my mom's side have red hair. In heaven I'll have curly red hair.
75. My favorite stone is emeralds. My next favorite are amethysts.
76. I prefer silver to yellow gold.
77. I like stained glass and would one day like to have several pieces in my house. My cousin makes stain glass, but I can't afford it yet.
78. I like to wear dresses.
79. I like to sing old hymns. When I was growing up we sang them as we drove from one place to another. I used to start singing as soon as I got in a car.
80. I like thick socks.
81. I also like crazy socks– colors, or toes, or pictures.
82. I like sex. All hours, most positions.
83. I don't do coffee.
84. My drug of choice is Dr. Pepper.
85. When the lights are turned off, I can't see for quite a while. My hubby can see much better than I can in the dark. I do eventually adjust more, but he still sees better than I do. And did before his Lasik as well.
86. I am now well enough to get bored fairly frequently. I take it as a good sign and generally get housework done. (So, yes, the house is getting cleaner.)
87. I started a list of 100 things I wanted to do before I died, but most of them involved traveling to places. I'd love to go hot air ballooning again sometime.
88. I've never been to Oregon.
89. My favorite candles are called “cappuccino” and come from the Georgetown Candle Factory. If you're a coffee drinker, they smell like coffee. If you aren't, they smell like chocolate chip cookies baking.
90. I usually have all my Christmas shopping done by August. This year I only have two people's gifts. And it's the end of October.
91. I collect nativity scenes, but I only have a few. My mother doesn't collect them, but she has more.
92. I like to window shop for house items, jewelry, and books. I like to really shop for clothes and books.
93. I own way more jewelry than I wear. Most of it I inherited from my grandmother.
94. I don't have a primary care physician anymore. The last ones I had were in NC, seven years ago.
95. I've had three emergency surgeries, two of which were C-sections. I have had surgery for TMJ. It cured mine. I know that it doesn't work for most people, but I went from constant pain and regularly locking to the rare spasm, maybe once a month.
96. I did not have a TV in my home until I was 12. It was after Hank Aaron beat the record. But my favorite TV show when I was little was a Saturday morning show with Donny Osmond, a witch and a big purple character. I would go to my next door neighbor’s to watch it.
97. I own three pieces of antique furniture and wish I owned more. My husband says we don't have room for anymore. He doesn't understand that I'd get rid of stuff to make room for antiques. He ought to know that. He says I'm the “throw away queen.”
98. Since we aren't allowed to have garage sales, I think it is much simpler to give our stuff away and take a write off on our taxes than save the stuff and cart it to the annual garage sale at the college, where I'd have to pay for space.
99. I hated doing the laundry growing up because it was our Saturday morning chore. I don't mind it so much now. I do it during the week. I used to be like the Pilgrims and do it on Mondays, but now that I work on Mondays, I usually do the laundry on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
100. I'm so transparent I can't think of anything to put on this list that my husband doesn't know. I guess I will have to come up with something. The mystery isn't there if there isn't anything he doesn't know.
