Tag Archive: about me

If you know these things about me and still want to be my friend, then we're friends for life.

(Or ten things you probably don’t need to know about me, but I have a compelling need to spew my secrets out for all of teh interwebz to read.)

If you know all of these things about me, and still want to be my fra-yand(as Lydia calls her friends)…let’s make a deal.  I won’t make fun of you, if you don’t make fun of me.  Well, I promise to at least not make fun of you often.  Or, if you’re the sensitive type, I’ll only make fun of you behind your back.  Your choice though…just let me know.

1. I never watched The George Lopez Show when it was on prime time TV.  But now if I catch it on Nick at Nite(and Marshall’s not around to make fun of me), I watch it.  And I laugh. Every. Time.

2.  I’ve had a boob job.  No, really.  Just not the way you think.  Way back in 1997(was that really 12 years ago?), I had a breast reduction.  My back thanks me, but my children will never be smart because I didn’t breastfeed them.  (Note the sarcasm there.)

3. 99% of the time I brush my teeth before I go to bed.  1% of the time I lay down and then realize I forgot that crucial part of personal hygiene.  And I debate the pros and cons of getting back up simply to brush my teeth.  Fatigue wins that one every. time. (But I do always brush in the morning!)

4. While we’re on the personal hygiene theme, I’ll admit that I don’t shower every single day either.  I start out with great aspirations each morning, but if I’m still not bathed and dressed by 4 or 5pm, is it really worth it?  Sometimes the answer is no.  Admit it: you’d do it if you could, too.  Every now and again.  (And just for the record, I don’t go into public without some sort of bath/shower.)

5. I also don’t bathe my children every day.  It’s rare for them to get more than 3 baths a week unless it’s blatantly obvious that they need it.  This is obviously harder to do in the summer with all the sweating and swimming.  But they all have eczema and the more baths they get, the drier their skin gets.   (Even though I can use that as an excuse, I know I wouldn’t do it daily if they had perfectly smooth skin. Have you seen what kind of mess they make in the bathtub?)

6.  Just so you don’t think I’m absolutely disgusting, I want to point out that I do regularly visit my dentist(where very few cavities have been discovered).  That’s not my secret, though.  This is my secret:  I love love LOVE that gritty stuff they use to “buff” your teeth at the end of the cleaning.  I don’t know what it’s called or what it’s made of…but I love the whir of the cleaner.  I love the taste of the cleaner stuff.  And I love the smooth feeling it leaves behind.

7. I voted for Obama, but I get that he is still, after all, a politician.  If I could pick someone to run the country, I’d pick the folks at Walt Disney.  They’ve built an amazing corporation.  Disney World is always clean.  They are the masters at portraying a positive image, even when things aren’t so positive.  Wouldn’t it be great if America could be “the happiest place on Earth”?

8. I have little bitty pinkie toe nails.  Teeny tiny.  And there have been times I just painted a little patch of skin to make it look like a nail.  Want to know why I had to do that?  Because I have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad habit of wearing flip flops and then kicking the wheels on shopping carts and knocking my whole toenail off.  It’s really gross, and it hurts like hang!  (Get it…hang nail.  Hee-hee.)  I could avoid this whole tragedy by not going to the store.  But it’s a risk I’m willing to take!  🙂

9. My tonsils are the size of oranges…ok well maybe more like grapes…but they’re huge.  HUGE, I tell you.  So huge that I’ve had two surgeons tell me I should have them out.  So huge that sometimes when I’m singing, my throat just randomly closes off and air momentarily ceases to flow.  It’s not good.  But I’m a wuss.  And it’s supposedly one of the most horrible and painful recoveries ever.  And I’m SO SO scared that a scalpel may slip and ruin my singing voice.  Singing is an integral part of who I am…I’m not sure what I’d be without my voice.

10. Coming up with ten secrets about myself is hard.  I’m apparently too open and honest…you all know all of my secrets already!  But since I have to come up with one more, I’ll say that my secret is this:  Lately I’ve heard several people say to me (or about me) that I come across as really confident and self-assured.  I’m not.  And I’m kind of surprized that I’m percieved that way.  It’s good, I guess.  But in all honesty I second-guess myself all the time.  My inner band nerd is always telling me how ridiculous I am.  And I’m not nearly as confident as I appear.  (Shh…don’t tell anybody!  Once there’s a chink in my armor, I’m destined to fall.)

About "me"me

My friend(and BlogHer ’09 roomie) over at citystreams posted a meme that I thought was kind of fun. It’s not a typical form-type questionnaire; instead it’s made up of questions custom-written for you.  It all started from the Immoral Matirarch, but each person writes new questions for the next person.  After reading citystreams’, I decided to do it, too.

Here are the questions she posed to me and my responses. I’m not going to “tag” anybody, but if you want to do this just let me know! 🙂

 1. If you could go back in time and give yourself advice, what time period would you pick and what would you say to yourself?

I “skipped” my senior year of high school and went to a local college to finish my high school credits.  I don’t regret that at all.  What I do regret is that I didn’t take the opportunities I had to study abroad while I was there.  I was young and too scared to be away from home.  I’d like to go back and say to myself: “You are stronger and more capable than you think you are.  Give yourself a little more credit.  Believe in yourself.”

2. A rich uncle dies and specifies in his will that he wants to make a one million dollar donation to the charity of your choice in your honor. (You can’t be the charity! ;o) That’s all that he’s left you. Who would you give the money to and how would you feel about it?

I love, love, love to give to charities(sometimes to a fault, Marshall might say! :-)). But seriously I’d like to have enough money to pay off somebody’s hospital bill in full or tip a waitress $1000 or something like that.  But I’d rather it be anonymous, I think.  I’d love to hide and see the waitress’ face when she gets to the cash register or the guy’s face when he opens his hospital bill only to find a ZERO balance.  I’m a big fan of “random acts of kindness”! 

But picking a specific charity…that’s hard!  I’d really like to spread it around.  My home church could well benefit, as would our church in Augusta.  They are both mission-minded churches who are active locally and globally.  I’d also probably give to Heifer International, an organization that gives animals to people all over the world who are in need.  As the website states, Heifer helps “millions of impoverished families acquire and raise animals, and then…pass on the gift of their new skills and offspring to neighbors in need.”

Even if you don’t have million dollars, it’s still fun to pay for the meal of the car behind you at Zaxby’s or even do something simple like leave a snack and coke out for the mailman on a hot summer day. 

3. How has your faith changed since you were a college student?

The main difference between “the college me” and the “new me” is my kids.  Having kids, for me at least, gave me a fuller understanding of the love God has for all of his children.  Being a parent has taught me that no matter how many children you have, you love them all uniquely; that different children respond differently to the same situation; and that you can’t treat all of your children the same way.  Separate, but equal and all that jazz.

I believe that God really loves Joe Schmoe, Wang Lei Chei and Maneesh Sharma as much as he loves me.  Because he loves us all and because we are all unique and molded by our families and cultures, God will reach out to each of us in a different way-whichever way we will best be able to form a relationship with him.  I do believe that Jesus died on the cross to allow me to have direct, un-diluted contact with God, but I do not believe that Christianity is the only route to God.

I’m sure there are many people out there who could have stated this better than I just did.  Google it…I’m sure it’s out there somewhere!

4. What single thing do you hope to impart to your children?

These are really hard questions, citystreams!  I’m going all church-y again on my answer: Love.  Whether you’re “reglious” or not, I’m sure you’ve heard 1 Corinthians 13 at one wedding or another.  If we love the way we were created to love(or even a percentage of the way we were created to love), this world would be a much different place.  Imagine if we were never rude or self-centered, and always full of hope and perseverance(within our own life and the lives of others).  Imagine a world where the only raised voices were those of children playing and laughter, and where when you made a mistake people rushed to help you correct it instead of yelling, cursing or talking poorly of you.  As 1 Peter 4:8 would read if I’d translated the bible: If you don’t remember anything else, remeber to LOVE…because love is the cure for a lot of crap.

5. If you and Marshall ever decided to move out of the states, where do you think you would live and why?

This one’s easy for me…although I’m not sure about how Marshall would like it(I think he would): somewhere in Great Britain.  I went to London and some surrounding areas with my grandmother, Mama Jo, when I was 16.  It was amazing, and I fell head-over-heels in love with it then.  (London was one of the study-abroad opportunities I had and didn’t take.)  I’d love to go live somewhere far enough from a city that you can see stars in the dark night sky, yet close enough to get some good shopping!  🙂 

An attempt.

I’m trying to pull myself out of the funk. I thought that maybe if I wrote something, I’d get some juices flowing and get back into the swing of things. I love blogging and reading blogs, and I hate it when I have nothing to say. So…here goes my writing practice. Read if if you want-but my feelings won’t be hurt if you don’t. (Plus I’ll never really know, will I?) It’s a meme-type thing that I stole from citystreams(who stole it from Bethany Actually). They’re both really great bloggers, so you should mosey on over to read theirs, too. Ok…enough procrastinating. Get started already!

Ten Things I Wish I Could Say To Ten Different People Right Now(if had the confidence to do so):
1. I feel bad about the time I said something about your hair. I never brought it up again, but I think about it sometimes and it makes me sad that I made you feel bad. I don’t know if you remember it or not, but if you do: I’m sorry.
2. It’s usually not you who deserves my yelling, fussing, complaining, etc. But I’m thankful that you usually take it so well and know that it’ll all blow over soon.
3. I can’t wait to met you IRL.
4. I love the sound of your voice, especially when you sing.
5. I miss you most when I find a great bargain and want to call someone and tell them all about it.
6. I would kill for hair like yours!
7. I wish I spent more quality time with you. It’s my own fault that I don’t, and I don’t know what keeps holding me back.
8. I know that you think I’ll never attain some of the goals I have for myself, and I will prove you wrong.
9. I’m a Democrat…most of the time. I just usually keep my mouth shut. I hope that if you ever do find out, you won’t care. But I have a feeling that you would care, and that kind of makes me sad. I wish we could all celebrate our differences.
10. I only met you once, but you left a big impression on me. I hate that I never got the chance to get to know you, and I hope that your daughter has lots of people to always remind her how wonderful a person you were.

Nine Things About Myself:
1. I love Diet Coke.
2. I really love pasta.
3. I love kisses from my kids even more than coke or pasta.
4. I’m pretty crafty(in an arts and crafts kind of way), when I put my mind to it.
5. I wish I had more time to be craftier.
6. I am a Christian, but I really strive to be aware and sensitive to other’s beliefs and ideals.
7. Music moves me in ways that nothing else can. 
8. I love to read mindless “chick lit“.
9. I am getting really excited about our new house!

Eight Ways To Win My Heart:
1. Make me laugh.
2. Make a lemonade cake just for me.
3. Clean my house.
4. Babysit.
5. Massage my shoulders, head and neck.
6. Give me moo-lah!
7. Take me on a shopping spree! Whee!
8. Be excited about something I’m excited about!

Seven Things That Cross My Mind A Lot:
1. I hope I never run over a child(mine or somebody else’s) with my car.  It’s one of my biggest fears in life, and I think about it almost every time I turn on my car.
2. Man, Marshall is really good to me!
3. I (heart) my munchkins!
4. I really wish I could not throw up today.
5. I wish Target was a little closer.
6. How cute is that??
7. I wish I were more patient…

Six Things That I Do Before I Fall Asleep:
1. Check my email.
2. Brush my teeth.
3. Take my meds.
4. Brush my hair.
5. Silence my cell phone.
6. Often, read.

Five People Who Mean A Lot:
(Seriously?? Only five??)
1. Marshall
2. Tucker
3. Emmie
4. #3A, who doesn’t yet have a name
5. You (Did you really think that I could name one more without getting in trouble with somebody?)

Four Things I Am Wearing Right Now:
1. Uncomfortable maternity jeans
2. An uncharacteristically pink shirt
3. Not one, but two barrettes. I hate when my hair is in my face!
4. My go-to black necklace with an I-have-no-clue-what-it-means Chinese symbol on it

Three Songs That I Listen To Often(currently):
1. Glory, Glory to Old Georgia
2. Edelweiss
3. The More We Get Together

Two Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. Become a doctor
2. Take Marshall to Europe

One Confession:
1. I wish I was a better mother. It may be conceited of me to say, but I’m really good with other people’s kids. I have much more patience with them than with mine. I plan more and do more activities as a babysitter than as a mother. I don’t yell at other people’s kids. I don’t put them off just so I can read or watch something on TV or make a phone call.  I wish I would be better at managing and maximizing my time with the kids.  And I have to admit that there are many times when I wonder whether or not I would appreciate them more-and they me-if I worked outside the home.  If we had less time together, would I be better about spending quality time with them when I was home?

2008 Mommyfest Blog Party – Updated!

Well, here we go…I’m finally moving out of my box and on to the big wide world of a Mr. Linky list.  So far this website has been mostly for my family and friends to read about what’s going on with us.  But I think I’m ready to broaden my horizons, get a little more traffic, and meet some folks online.  I kind of feel like I’m graduating from high school and getting ready for the “big leagues” of college.  There won’t be a  ceremony and I will resist the urge to insert a “Pomp and Circumstance” sound file, but there will be parties!  🙂 

So…my first party is the 2008 Mommyfest Blog Party.  Since I will(hopefully) be getting some new people looking at the site, I’m going to give you guys a run-down of who and what I am.  I am a mother of two hilarious, adorable kids.  Tucker is 3, Emmie is almost 2.  And #3A is on the way, due sometime around Christmas.  (All of our ultrasound pictures and such are filed away as “Baby Numero Uno”, “Baby Numero Dos”, etc.  I had a miscarriage back in November, so we affectionately call the new baby “3A”.)

My husband is a 3rd year pediatric resident, which means that in 48 days he will be a real, live pediatrician.  But it also means that I’ve spent quite a few nights alone for the past seven years while he’s been in medical school and residency.  And as excited as I am for him to be almost done, I’m not sure how I’m going to react to him not being on call at the hospital sometimes.  When will I ever get a chance to watch my super-girly movies and let the dogs sleep in the bed with me???

We are currently living in a city of about 200,000 people.  In just 48 days we will be moving to a city with the population of about 2,000.  It’s my hometown, so I’m excited.  But I think it is definitely going to take some readjustments for all of us!  What?  No Target????  I have to drive how far to go to the movies?? 

Another big adjustment will be leaving the kids I “baby”sit.  They aren’t babies at all any more…2 middle schoolers and a 1st-going-on10th grader!  They were “my girls” before I had kids of my own, and I can’t believe that I only have a week and half left withthem before my new replacement arrives!!  My kids aren’t going to know how to function with out seeing “the girls” all the time!  Who am I kidding?  I won’t know how to function with out seeing “the girls” all the time!  We’re really going to miss them!

I love being crafty in the cut-and-paste-and-create-things kind of way, although I have been known to occasionally be quite cunning and come up with an evil scheme or two.  Just kidding.  Kind of.

I love music.  I sometimes forget how much I love singing with other talented singers until I find myself drawn back into a choir one way or another.  Somehow I’ve managed to neglect this part of my life for the past few years, unless you count karaoke-ing alone in the basement.  No, I’m not a loser.  I am not a loser.  I am not a loser.  If I repeat it enough times, it will become true, right.  Ok, so singingyour heart out in the shower or the car is one thing.  Using an actual mic alone in your basement is a whole different story.  But at least I’m aware of the problem.

I love watching my kids interact with each other when they don’t think I’m watching.  They make me laugh..and I see a lot of my brother and me in the two of them. 

I love Grey’s Anatomy, even though I don’t think it’s as good as it used to be.  Although I’ve not had a lot of things go terribly wrong in my life and I’m not “damaged goods”, my inner middle-schooler-drama-queen comes out when I watch that show, and I relate to Meredith a lot.  I see a lot of myself in her: lacking the balls to get what you want, but not always realizing it.  Lacking the confidence to get what you actually want, but not doing anything about it.  But at the same time being hard-headed and persistant and just trying to live life the best way you know how.

I love Netflix and Tivo and other things that make enertainment cheap and accessible, while not requiring me to get a babysitter.

My favorite channel is Comedy Central because I love to laugh more than anything else.  One of my favorite things about my husband is how much he makes me laugh with his corny jokes and witty remarks. 

I love being a Christian, but I don’t like being fanatical about it.  I am glad that my God allows me to question and search for answers on my own.  I am glad that He nudges me in the right direction when I’m searching for those answers.  I am glad that I have a good foundation that allows me to sometimes stray from “religion” in order to find out what’s most important to me and what my faith really means.  I’m glad that everyone is not like me, and that there are many different religions that allow people to express themselves to the maximum extent.

I love…blogs that are short enough to read in one sitting!  So…happy MommyFest Blog Party!

 
**UPDATE!!**
My bestest friend and side-kick in all those evil schemes I mentioned earlier made note that I didn’t talk about her.  So…here’s a taste of the wonderful Jess:  She makes me laugh even when I don’t want to.  She talked me into getting Netflix, which has been pretty darn exciting for me.  She loves my kids…really loves them and doesn’t complain when they throw up on her or drool on her or get poop on her.  She’s my girly-girl soul mate in the fact that we usually like the same books, movies and music.  We dislike a lot of the same things, too-like seafood and rude, stupid people.  I never have a problem with totally being myself around her.  She belches and farts in front of me, and doesn’t care when I do the same thing!  She is a great teacher who lets her students know that she really cares about them.  And she does actually care about them…I hear lots of stories about them!  She’s a great nap-buddy when you really need one.  She let me fill up one whole room in her house with all of my “crap” when I tried to de-clutter my house when it went on the market.  She loves my dogs-who are crazy, neurotic and psychotic.  I know I can call on her if I need her at 1am.  She sends me flowers.  She’s awesome.  So…that’s my friend Jess..whom I will miss terribly when we move, but who will always be my side-kick.

What is a meme and why am I doing this?

My friend over at CityStreams tagged me for a meme. Now, I’m not very blog-savvy yet, but if you’ve even read a few blogs you’ve probably heard of a meme. But I was curious; what exactly is a “meme” (rhymes with “cream” or “dream”)? According to Wikipedia (which, of course is alwaysright), a meme “consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another”.  So, online at least, it pretty much means a chain letter-type questionnaire that you fill out and post.  I’m not one of those people who usually does the ones you get via email that ask you what your favorite type of ice cream is or what your middle name is.  You change all the answers and forward it to 10 friends.  Just not my thing, really.  But I’m considering making this blog public and joining a blog group, so I thought this might be a way for people to find out a little bit about me.  I probably won’t “tag” 5 others, but you’ll at least get to see my responses.  So…here it goes:

What were you doing ten years ago?
1998…I was a music therapy major at Georgia College, and I worked at a monogram store.

What are five things on your to-do list?
Um…only 5??
1. Clean up, clean up everybody everywhere.  Clean up, clean up everybody do your share.
      (Is it even possible to have a on-the-market house “show-ready” while 2 adults, 2 kids and
       2 dogs live there??)
2. Make sure T-man pees in the pot and not in his big-boy underwear(this is a never ending “to-do”)
3. Go to the bank
4. Cook dinner
5. Take a shower
      (You know you’re a SAHM if you have to actually put “take a shower” on your to-do list!)

What are five snacks you enjoy?
Hummus with pretzel chips, Snickers, Toblerone, chips with any kind of dip, milkshakes

Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire.
I guess the responsible answer would be pay off all our debt(med school is not good on the credit), but since I don’t really have a million dollars, I’m gonna go a different direction:
Build one tree house for my kids, and then one for myself!
Build a theater in my basement.
Build a fun-stocked youth building at my home church: Big screen TVs, comfy couches, game room, prayer room, worship room with full media.

Name some places you have lived.
With the infamous “Kat” at Georgia College, with Courtney in Athens, GA…and now with Marsh.

Name some bad habits you have.
I don’t have any bad habits.
Seriously…saying “seriously” all the time.
Saying “Oh my GOD!” (That doesn’t sound so bad until you hear a 3 year old repeat it!)
Retail therapy.

Name some jobs you have had.
Monogrammer, photo printer at Eckerd’s, medical office assistant(big name for “person who files”), nanny, mommy