200th Blog Post - 20 Random Facts

20 Random Facts about Me...

...that you probably don't really want to know anyway ;)

My niece, Sarah, was the first one to throw down this gauntlet on her blog (hers was 20 Random facts), then I got tagged by several people on Facebook (their lists were 25). So I decided that it would be a dandy subject for my 200^th blog post. It just seemed fitting to me to do the 20 facts, being 10% of the 200. (You like the way my warped little mind works?)

The instructions are-

“Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 20/25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 20/25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.” (Just keep telling yourself that! LOL). But I will add… only do this if it makes you happy, if it stresses you out, then bag it!

1. Today, February 16^th is my half-birthday… a very merry un-birthday to me! TO ME? It was always a big deal to me when I was a kid… oh, wait, it’s still a big deal!

2. I am a 3rd generation Californian. Three of my grandsons ( Caden, Brock & Riley) are 5^th generation Californians.

3. I am the baby in my family (that explains volumes, I’m sure). My family made me feel like I was the best thing that ever happened to our family so… "Everybody loves little Joanie, why wouldn't they?"

4. I eat fish eyes. (Mostly because I know it grosses people out, not because they taste good, they don’t taste like much of anything.)

5. I am an out-going person by nature, but the older I get the more cautious/reserved I become. (It is better to remain silent and thought a fool than open one’s mouth and remove all doubt!)

6. I NEED to have things organized. I like to have my fabric folded in a certain way and sorted by color; that also applies to scrapbook paper and clothing minus the folding part. (But if you looked in my workroom right now you might now believe that!)

7. I love the snow; I have since I was a child. One year, as a teenager, I put a bumper sticker on my mom’s truck that said, *Think Snow*… People still hold that against me.

8. I love nature. I had the privilege of growing up in a rural area where I could explore at will. I don’t get it when I see people walking/hiking/biking with their headphones on, don’t they know all the wonderful sounds they are missing?

9. I am like a child and show my excitement for things by clapping my hands and doing a happy dance. I get enjoyment out of the small things in life.

10. I don’t seem to be able to separate fiction from reality at the movies. (Years ago we went to see the Rocky 2 movie where Hulk Hogan is doing back-breakers on Rocky. I grabbed Gordon’s arm and said, “Gordon, Gordon! Why doesn’t somebody stop him!” He laughed and replied, “Joanie! Calm down, it’s just a movie!”) Thus I am very selective in what I can watch! ;)

11. I love my family with something nigh unto fierceness! They all know that I have my faults, but they also know that I love them to my very core.

12. I have a quirky sense of humor. Sometimes I will do or say something and then wonder- where did that come from? (And just for Auntie P here is some photographic proof)

13. I love to quote lines from movies, mostly Disney-type or romantic comedy (see #10). My kids have caught on and we have a whole repertoire of insane quotes. Sometimes this backfires; like the time I gave a lady a [clean] tissue and told her it was “mostly clean” and she looked at it like it was a contaminated!

14. I also have a whole list of words that I’ve picked up over the years that are mispronounced. Most of these are referred to as Helen-isms, but some we have invented. I realize that unless someone knows me they probably think I am just as funny as we thought Helen was! IE- frabric, low man on the tottin’ pole, rotiserairy, ban-bain, hoosed [a multi-purpose word invented by Caden that means anything that sounds similar to hoosed like; loosed, used], and Christian’s saying, “I just can’t like that!”

15. I have lived in 21 different houses (14 of which were in the short span of 10 years, yipes!), in 11 different towns, in 5 different states (California, Virginia, Idaho, Oregon and Utah). The longest place I’ve lived was Palmdale (3 houses, 23 years) and the shortest was 2 months (Doug’s basement while we shopped for our present house). The house I lived in the longest was the house where I was born and raised - 18 years.

16. I am uncoordinated when it comes to sports; there was a reason why I was always chosen last for playground games.

17. I love to sew. I started taking 4-H sewing lessons when I was 8-years old. Mary Greiner always had something absolutely disgustingly-smelling thing cooking and was so picky and meticulous I wanted to scream. But now I thank her from the bottom of my heart for teaching me the right way to sew (not for the disgustingly-smelling things!) My mom was also an excellent seamstress, but she had the good sense to have someone else teach me and then she let me “do my thing”. I would come home from school and think, “I want something new to wear tomorrow”. So I would dig into the material drawer, pull out fabric and a pattern and make it after school and wear it the next day. It took me years to get over that NEED to complete a project in one sitting once I had children! ;)

18. I also love to scrapbook. Pauline infected me. Last year I learned to do digital scrap and I love it even more than paper scrapping. This way I never use up my delicious paper.

19. Speaking of delicious as it applies to fabric and paper; when I see a color that is just so yummy I want to lick it! Strange, but there you are!

20. I love to read AND I love repetition. I can read/listen to a book many times and not get tired of it. The same thing applies to movies; I’ve watched some movies dozens of times and never get tired of it. It is like an old friend, come for another visit.