25 random things

I got tagged by this a bunch of times over the weekend on Facebook. I though I'd post it here, too. Here we go:

1. I never had the chickenpox. I have had a blood test and somehow I am immune to it. My brother Jeff also avoided it while Scott, Nancy and Megan suffered.

2. I have gained AND lost 350 pounds between my 7 babies. Which leads into my next one:

3. I think anyone who says she enjoyed being pregnant is lying.

4. I think I have mild claustrophobia. I cannot wear nylons or too many layers, and I cannot sleep with anything touching my face.

5. I can't sleep without socks on. My feet are always freezing. I'm always freezing. I decided I am an exothermic person, selflessly giving away my warmth to others.

6. I don't like it when people leave stuff on the kitchen counter. I like to see the counters, and if you leave your homework, book, or valuable item on the counter, it's not my problem if you can't find it when you need it.

7. I love to bake. I am a pastry snob, and usually don't eat store-bought (or other people's) cookies or pies. It has to be worth the calories to eat it. My kids usually won't eat other people's cookies, either. One exception to this is Trader Joe's Peppermint Joes. I devour those like crazy during the holidays.

8. I have a commercial laundromat in my basement. Seriously. 2 commerical washers, 2 commercial dryers. How else could I keep up with the laundry for 9 people? It gives me time to do more important things, like write 25 random things about myself. It used to take me 16 hours to do the laundry--which means it rarely ever all got done. Now it takes me under 2 hours. No quarters necessary, though. Bring your blankets and sleeping bags over anytime.

9. I stink at almost every sport. Except for bowling. But that's not really a sport.

10. I have a degree in teaching middle school/jr high science. Never used it. I was pregnant with Abram when I graduated and found I could make a lot more money with my computer skills than I could teaching for those 5 months between graduation and his birth.

11. When I was in 6th grade the school librarian (Mrs. Turpin who seemed 90 years old) would come get me out of class to type the new cards for library books because I could type a lot faster than she could. I could type 80 wpm in 6th grade.

12. When I was little I was so afraid that our house would burn down. I blame this directly on a Jimminy Cricket movie we saw at school about how to prevent house fires (I'm no fool...No siree...Do you remember this movie?) and also how to escape from a burning house. I terrified me. I used to be afraid every time we had been away that I would come around the corner and see the house burning. I'm over it.

13. I used to want to travel the world. Now all I want to do is go back to Belize. Europe Shmerope. I'll take La Isla Bonita.

14. I took piano lessons for a million years. I can still play. I am a closet organist, too. I bought an organ on craigslist a couple of years ago, bought BYU's organ class materials and taught myself the basics. I secretly wish for my friend to be sick every Sunday so I can play the organ at church.

15. I love to sew. My mom taught me how to sew the summer after 8th grade. I was too young to get a job, and just old enough to be annoying without anything to do. So I learned to sew. I made some sweet moolah in high school making lycra biking shorts with fluorescent colored side insets for people.

16. I love Barry Manilow. Well, not him, but I love his voice. Scott and I used to stack up the Barry records 3 or 4 at a timeon the record player and sing along at the top of our lungs. Barry gives one heckuva concert. I've been twice. Next year when I fly to Vegas for Bradley girls weekend, I want to go to Barry's show before we head to St. George. Luckily, Mark likes Barry also.

17. I love big cities. I love to go somewhere I've never been and figure out the streets and directions and how to get around. I've got to get to NY to stay with Emilee. I've always wanted to go to NYC, just for the city experience. Not for shopping or shows. Just to see the cool buildlings and museums. Mostly, I want to go watch Em play at Peacock Alley in the Waldorf. I'm so proud of her!

18. Sometimes I dream that I cannot keep my eyes open and they blink and blink and I need them to be open because I'm trying to run away or do something. Emilee is the only other person I've know who had the same sort of dream. I also dream that I can fly, and the usual dream that I need to run but I cannot move or need to scream and can't make a sound. Before I cater something (feeding 9 peope 3 times a day isn't catering) I have dreams that I cannot get all the food ready or onto the table it needs to be on.

17. I also love Neil Diamond. I love his voice. My brother Jeff can sing exactly like him.

18. I love to sing. I never realized I actually had a singing voice until I haphazardly tried out for concert choir in high school. I made it, and had no idea if I was a soprano or alto so I sat by the sopranos to sit by my friend. I found out later I was supposed to be an alto, but I never moved to the other side of the room. I do prefer to sing alto now, and the smallest group I've sung in public with (other than my excellent duets with Betsy at girls camp) is 4.

19. Our kids are named in alphabetical order purely by random coincidence--until Zachary. Abram, Aubrey, Jacob, Joel, Noah, Savanna, Zachary. Mark liked the name Elijah before Zack was born, and I liked something else. The night before I was to be induced, we were discussing names, and it occured to me that as Mark was a logical person, I would try the ABC argument. I told him it would be a shame to mess up our alphabet by jumping backward and that we had to pick something that came after S. Muah-ah-ah..... I totally pulled the name Zachary out of the air, and we both knew it was perfect for him. We should have started on the last page of the baby name book to being with!

20. I have given birth 7 times, but I have never gone into labor on my own. Each week at my appointment the doctor would tell me that he likely wouldn't see me the next week, and yet there I was defying the odds in my own special way that someone could actually walk around dialated to a 5 and not be in labor. I have been induced at 37-38 weeks each time (except with Aubrey when I had to go to my due date). I had huge babies, and if I had gone to term with any of the last 5, they would have weighed 11 pounds. So glad to be done with that.

21. My dad has been battling colon and now liver cancer for the past couple of years. He has 2 chemo treatments left, and we are so excited for that to be done. He is a huge example of love, endurance, positive attitude, happiness, and doing hard things. He is Mark's inspiration for staying fit, because he admires so much that my dad is still so active (when not being poisoned by chemo) into his 60s. My dad tells the BEST bedtime stories.

22. My entire family (excluding me) graduated from the University of Utah. Mom, Dad, Scott, Jeff, Nancy, Megan--and their spouses. I think I nearly killed my mom when I came home my junior year from Skyline one day and told her I wanted to go to BYU. I didn't even apply to the U. I knew I needed to be there, although I had grown up hating BYU. It ended up that I graduated from the University of Nebraska in the end . I got married and moved to Nebraska where Mark was going to dental school.

23. I play the guitar--sort of. I took lessons for a while in high school, and I can sort of pick out songs. Mostly just enough to play around the campfire. I want to buy a 12-string guitar to take to girls camp this year. Get ready, Betsy!

24. I took 5 years of French in jr high and high school, and 1 year of spanish in high school. I speak Spanish better than I do french. But I can read french--at least enough to get by.

25. Mark and I have survived 3 building projects together. First the dental building 10 years ago, our house 7 years ago, and now the basement. I've heard that building/remodeling is the true test of a relationship. It actually was fun every time. Lots and lots of work, but very fun.