25 Random Things

There is a new craze on Facebook called "25 Random Things" that is supposed to allow people to learn things about you that they never would have otherwise known. Since I have acquired a few new readers over the last couple of months, I thought I would use this very same idea on my blog to give all of you a little more insight as to just who Reagan's mommy is! So, copied straight from my Facebook notes, here are my 25!

1. When I was in kindergarten, I wanted to use the purple crayon that another little girl was using. She didn't want to share. I bit my own arm hard enough to leave teeth marks and then told the teacher that the other little girl did it to me. She had to go sit in the corner and I got the purple crayon! I have recently spoken to her regarding this incident, and thankfully, she does not remember it.

2. I once tried to suffocate my sister on the way to Disney World. I had been to Disney once before as an only child, and I decided that it wouldn't be near as much fun having to share the experience with her. I put a pillow over her head while we were supposed to be napping in the back of the van on the drive to Orlando. I took it off when I realized that the trip would be cancelled completely if we arrived at Disney and my parents found her dead. (I'M STILL SORRY FOR THIS ANNA)

3. I had nightmares as a child… two nightmares to be exact that I would have over and over and over again. Both involved my sister being eaten by either a shark or a monster. Guess that was my punishment for item #2.

4. I used to get EXTREMELY excited at the start of every school year to go back to school shopping. And no, it was not for the clothes. I obsessed over having the perfect school supplies. I would spend hours choosing the perfect Trapper Keeper (I'm showing my age with that comment!) and I would organize all of my notebooks, pens and pencils as if my life depended on it.

5. I had my first cigarette when I was in the sixth grade. My gymnastics coach gave it to me. (Lesson to parents... don't always trust the coach that your child thinks is SUPER COOL!) I officially became a habitual smoker on my Senior Cruise in 1994. I quit smoking for good in 2005. Yes, some of you are now learning that I was a "secret" smoker on occasion from 2002-2005! The smell of cigarette smoke now makes me gag.

6. I have "stolen" a car twice. Once, before I even had my driver's license, I took the Dillon High School Driver's Ed car for a cruise through town. I looked so cool in the cruising lanes I'm sure! I thought my dad was going to have a heart attack when he came home that night and realized what I had done. Another time, I took my mom's car for a joyride all night long with friends. This time I was more careful, and didn't get caught until months later when someone wrote about it in my yearbook (or "annual" depending on where you live and what you call it) I was busted when my Dad read the note.

7. I spent most of my high schools days being grounded or on restriction. Re-read #6 if you need an explanation... There were many more getting into trouble incidents than just these two.

8. I started coloring my hair when I was in the seventh grade. My Dad put my first highlights in for me. It felt like he was digging holes into my head as he pulled it through the cap. I never let him do it again. I have no idea what my natural hair color is anymore. From the looks of my current roots, it is gray. (Yes, Coach Myers is also a beautician. He still colors my mom's hair for her!)

9. I love football… I love everything about it. I always have. I know more about football than most guys I know. Especially the Canadian guys! I'm not a big fan of NFL, but I live for NCAA football. I have to subscribe to a special sports channel in Canada because we don't get ESPN, and the regular channels don't pick up most of the games. I desperately miss high school football in the South. There is nothing quite like it.

10. I love NASCAR. Specifically, I LOVE DALE JR. I cried like a baby when Dale Sr. died. I mourned for days as if he were a member of my family. My husband and his brother thought I was losing my mind as they watched me sob. My husband also knows that I would leave him for Dale Junior. Or Matthew McConaughey. Whichever one comes looking for me first. Lucky for my husband, I don't think he has anything to worry about!

11. I met my husband at a hockey game. He used a really cheesy line on me later that same night at a bar. He said, "I could get lost in your eyes they are so beautiful." I spit my beer all over him I was laughing so hard. I was instantly in love.

12. I wish I could go back and re-live my college days. There are so many things I would do differently. To start with, I would have actually gone to class. However, I had a blast with the way that I did it, and wouldn't change any of the friendships that were made. And if changing history would change my present life, then I guess I would do it all over again EXACTLY the same!

13. I made my best friend for life during a power outage caused by Hurricane Opal in 1995. We were at Dozier trailer park. The trailer park was the only place in all of Troy that had power. Imagine that! Thanks Hageman for letting us crash there. (I LOVE YA TONI)

14. I don't wear perfume and my husband doesn't wear cologne. We quit using them while I was pregnant with Reagan due to my overly sensitive sense of smell. We continued to not wear any once she was born due to the harmful affects it can have on a baby. We now don't wear any because the doctor warned us that the scents could aggravate Reagan's lungs from having RSV when she was a baby. We will probably never wear perfume or cologne again because we have gone so long without them that we find the scents to be DISGUSTING. Much like cigarette smoke, it makes me want to gag.

15. I am a beach bum. I love everything about it. I am a sun worshipper. I still lather on the accelerant, and I only put sunscreen on my nose. I miss the sun now that I live in BC. I was VERY sick the first two winters that I lived here... borderline pneumonia both winters. My doctor in South Carolina said it was due to a lack of Vitamin D from sun exposure. My husband bought me certificates to the tanning bed, and I was cured.

16. My favorite place in the world is at our family beach house on the Intracoastal Waterway in North Carolina. All is right in the world when I am sitting on the end of the pier. Or in the boat. Or on the jet ski. Just as long as I am there! Because of this, no matter where I live, I will always be a CAROLINA GIRL.

17. Some other things that I miss from the South that I can not get here in Canada... grits and Duke's mayonnaise. I regularly ask friends and family to ship these items to me. I consider it to be Christmas whenever I receive them. And I miss sweet tea. No one here drinks sweet tea, but that is something that I can make on my own without having to have it imported in to me.

18. My family is the most important thing to me in the world. I can't imagine life without my husband or my daughter. Lately, I have near panic attacks when I think about losing either of them.

19. My life changed completely once my daughter was born. I never thought that I would be stay-at-home mom. I think that deep down in my heart, I knew from the moment that Reagan was born that I was meant to have no other job in this world than to be her mom. It took awhile for my heart to convince my head of this, but once it happened there was no changing my mind. There is no greater job in this world for me than to help her discover life and to help her grow into the smart and beautiful person that I already know she is going to be!

20. I have a WONDERFUL relationship with my parents. I have to talk to them daily, often up to ten times a day! It is hard for me to live so far away from them. I have always been this way. I was always the child that had to be picked up from summer camp early because I got homesick. I always had fears that something horrible was going to happen to them while I was away. That is still my fear to this day... that something horrible will happen to them while I am living this far away and that I won't make it to them in time.

21. I have self-diagnosed myself with OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). If you go back and re-read item #4, you will see that this has always been the case for me! I drive my husband insane with making sure that everything is in it's proper place and that it is positioned properly in that place. A remote control sitting crooked on the coffee table is enough to send me over the edge. I can't go to bed at night without checking to make sure that everything is properly placed. I have gotten better with some of these neurotic tendencies since Reagan came along. It's hard to see the little misplaced items under the mountain of toys!

22. I used to be a really good dancer. I was always chosen to learn the new dances and was placed at the front of the formation during my cheerleading days. My gymnastics coach always said that I should choreograph my own routines. I could break it down in the club like no other. Now, I look like a total uncoordinated lunatic when I try to bust a move. I catch myself in the mirror when I'm dancing with Reagan, and fall into a fit of laughter. I have no idea what happened along the way, but I can NO LONGER DANCE!

23. I have two pet peeves. Well, I probably have a lot more than that, but I have two big ones that go hand-in-hand... First, I can't stand for someone to be in my kitchen while I am working. My kitchen is my space. Don't invade my space! If I need help with something, I will ask. Otherwise, STAY OUT! Second, don't try to sneak bites of food while I am cooking. And for goodness sake, don't come into the kitchen to make yourself a snack while I am in the midst of preparing dinner. You don't need a snack... just wait 10 more minutes and you will have an entire meal placed before you. My husband has a habit of doing this, and it drives me crazy. I think he does it on purpose!

24. I learned to knit when I was pregnant with Reagan. I was determined to knit her a baby blanket. She is almost three, and the blanket is still barely big enough to keep a Barbie warm. Maybe I will finish it before she has her own kids... or maybe not!

25. I am becoming more and more forgetful the older I get. I sometimes think I will be diagnosed as the youngest person in the world to develop Alzheimer's disease. (It does run in my family!) I can be in one room, think of something that I need from another room, walk to that other room to get whatever it was, and then have no clue as to what I was going to get in the first place. Or I will think of something to tell my husband during the day, pick up the phone to tell him, and I will have completely forgotten why I was calling him by the time he answers the phone. For this reason, I make lists. LOTS and LOTS of lists. They are everywhere in my house. The problem is trying to remember where I put them!