The non mom 25 list

So, I was intrigued by Krista's comment on my last post - how she had tried to make her list of 25 things exclude her mommy side - and I wonder if I can accomplish that.

Here goes:

1. I think I might be kind of a hypochondriac. Googling things doesn't help me with this. I often think I or someone I love has a cancer of some sort. Google, I love you, but you stress me out sometimes!

2. I love to paint, but I'm horrible at putting what's in my head onto paper/canvas. So I don't really do it so much. But it's therapeutic, and so I do it SOMETIMES. ALthough, I just gave away my oils a couple of months ago, so… There's always watercolor. I'm the WORST at watercolor.

3. I have wrist issues. I hope it's not arthritis. I hope it's something less chronic. (LESS chronic? Really brain? I'll keep it.)

4. I'm going to be a beta reader for a friend's series she's working on, and I'm pretty stoked! I love critiquing. I'm not so good at grammar, but I'm decent with punctuation and story line flaws. I'm stoked!
If she gives me an electronic copy, I'm going to have to print it out so I can mark it up. Hopefully it's not too huge! Ah, there's always the "print four pages on one" trick I used at school to save money printing reading assignments! Can my eyes still handle that??

5. I have HORRIBLE eye sight. I don't know if you knew me when I wore glasses exclusively (up until 8th grade) but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the invention of contacts. And BLESS whoever has developed them into something COMFORTABLE to wear. Hard contacts are for masochists. JK. But really.

6. My background in humor is heavily rooted in sarcasm. Also, in cheesiness and lots and lots of puns, but I chose not to embrace that route. Probably mostly because it usually takes me 4 times as long as everyone else in the room (usually) to figure out what was just said and why they're all laughing.

7. I just bought my first size 14 jeans in a while, buuut I think they're making the sizes bigger than they used to - they feel rather similar to my 16s that I am still wearing… either way, it made my day :)

8. I purchased a tub of cookie dough from a girl that knocked on my door for a school fundraiser, and she recently delivered a redemption card. I apparently didn't type in the correct numbers from my voucher and had to call the company to get help so I could get my cookie dough. I was on hold for almost 10 minutes, on and off, and often felt rather silly for trying so hard just to get my cookie dough. But obviously not silly enough to hang up the phone, or to just pretend it worked even when it didn't. (I even had to CALL THEM BACK because they had assumed the issue was resolved without waiting for me to try their solution, and it didn't work. So I called them back.) The moral of the story is, I love sugar. And I don't usually turn it down. It's a problem.

9. I LOVE driving manual transmission cars. I like turning the car on and off while I drive - like if I'm going down a hill - just because I can. I kind of want to try doing that with an automatic, but something tells me it wouldn't work out the same way. So I don't do that. High five me.

10. I really like writing in my journal. Please burn my journals if you out live me, and can get to them before anyone else :) Feel free to read them first, but don't judge me. And don't let anyone else read them. :) tyvm

11. I was the kid that always wanted to read out loud when an opportunity arose, either in church or at school. I remember at some point realizing that I should calm down a bit and not  raise my hand so much, not volunteer every single time. I still like to volunteer in church, and adapt the same method of not volunteering every single time. But I find great joy when I get to read aloud. Not sure what that's all about…

12. I have a hard time when people don't take advice that I give that I gleaned from personal experience. I'm working on not taking that personally - but come on people, if you don't know, and I DO know, why not give it a shot? Come on. (queue snl "really" sketch) I know I don't always have great advice, but when I know something is good or works well, it drives me crazy to know someone thinks it's dumb or that they aren't willing to try it.

13. I'm pretty sure I'm a master of passive aggressiveness. Even though I'm not entirely sure I understand exactly what it is. BJ and Camille were educating me about it a while back, and I was like OH oh, oh yeah, I do that. Yup, I do that. So. Based on their education, I am. It's hard for me to confront things head on, I guess. Unless you're a kid at a playground and you're being a punk, then I have no problem telling you what's up. Beer liss'n up, yo. Says I to a 4 year old kid.

14. I'm not sure I can get through this. Perhaps I'll try and keep things shorter and more superficial.

14. I'm in the habit of saying my favorite color is orange, but it's really lime green.

15. Unlike Krista, I LOVE fresh pineapple.

16. I often order salads at restaurants because as easy as they are to put together, sometimes it's all about the dressing baby, dressing baby. (that reminds me of a song, which is why it's typed twice. but because i'm horrible at song names and artists, I'll just leave it at that.)

17. I love mexican food. I LOVE horchata, if it's good quality. Not just any old thing called horchata is worth consuming. It has to be good. I want to find a GOOD recipe for it so I can make it and have it in my fridge all summer long. SO GOOD.

18. I have a pen fetish. I love pens, and often collect them. It's really fun for me to use fancy (but not too fancy) pens, and it's especially exciting for me to find a pen that works well for journal writing. It used to be regular fine tipped Zebra brand pens, but now it's some random brand that I found at Target randomly one day. I'm hoping I can find them again, because I can't locate a label on them that provides who makes them and of course I threw the packaging away and OF COURSE I bought them out of state - so I'm definitely a little nervous I will only EVER have these two pens of that variety. I hope they either last, or I can find more. Because i LOVE them.

19. I think signing year books is stupid, unless you're awesome and you do awesome things like take up a whole page with meaningful things, not stupid things - or if you do a scavenger hunt using "go to page ____" to write your message. I also think it's silly I have an opinion about that…

20. I really like to dance, but I AM and always have been a super awkward dancer. Chelsea was my favorite to dance with because she made me feel unashamed and she was a crazy dancer, but in a cool way, so it made me feel more comfortable just moving around. Now a days my dance partners are of the munchkin variety, and they don't judge either, and sometimes they copy what I do - so I get to see first hand how ridiculous I must look (except even MORE so because they're tiny and cute and if they're tiny and cute AND they look silly doing what I do, then I must REALLY look crazy). Anyway, I think it's fun. The end.

21. I love cool fonts.

22. I really like math, and would actually someday like to go back to school and perhaps pursue a masters in math teaching. I think I'd have to take a lot of math classes to be able to re learn things I learned years and years ago, but I think I could do and I think I would love it.

23. I really wish that I had the type of face and hair that could pull off a white chick afro. I think they are awesome!

24. I never want to learn how to ski. But I do want to get better at snowboarding. It's a blast even when I'm horrible at it, so I imagine it would be so much more fun if had any skills.

25. I really REALLY hope that my kids get to know their cousins and become good friends. Like, to the point where they'll call each other and catch up on each other's lives, and where they are excited to see each other every time they or we visit - and that there's no need to get re-acquainted because they already know each other well enough. That would be the be the best.

26. I JUST realized as I was finishing typing that last one that I ALMOST made it all the way to 25 with things JUST about me… maybe it counts though, because it's a desire I have. Yup. I'll go with that.

Thanks for reading! And thanks, Krista, for the inspiration. This would be a fun thing to do annually and keep together somewhere - just as a keepsake. (that you wouldn't have to burn with my journals when I die!)