100 Facts About Myself

I joined a themed blog group my sister-in-law Karma started and this was our most recent topic--write 100 facts about me:

1. I do a lot of research before I buy something and love it even more if I get a good deal on it. (On the other hand, if I see it for cheaper after I've bought it, it seriously makes me sick.)

2. I should have been born 100 years ago--I love old things and hope someday to live in a 100+ year-old house.

3. I'm a cancer survivor: I was diagnosed with liposarcoma cancer in 2001.

4. Winter is my favorite season--I love making myself warm when it's cold by drinking A LOT of hot chocolate, wearing warm sweaters, and sitting by the fireplace.

5. I'm rather cheap (I add water to my soap to get ALL of it out of the bottle) but I love expensive things and my favorite place to shop is Anthropologie. However, I have gotten really good deals there (see #1).

6. I want to learn how to embroider. And I love embroidery on all my clothes, tablecloths, bedding--anything that can have embroidery.

7. I'm addicted to ebay and usually have about 50 things I'm "watching" at any given time. I sell on ebay sometimes too.

8. I hope someday to be a real writer of "creative" nonfiction and fiction and have written for the newspaper. I’m currently writing a musical for elementary-school kids that will be performed in August for the City of Herriman.

9. I hate gardening.

10. I don't like "manufactured" fun and would prefer doing something in nature to going to an amusement park any day.

11. I love decorating/re-decorating all the rooms in my house. I especially love doing my girls' bedrooms.

12. I'm obsessed with dresses for my girls. It's a good thing I had girls and not boys.

13. All my daughter's names are based on characters from Shakespeare's plays—Bianca, Miranda, and Portia.

14. I'm from St. Louis but have never been up in the arch.

15. I love spicy foods and would put jalepenos on anything that I possibly can.

16. I have a Chihuahua named Tigger (who I pretend that I don't like).

17. I like to travel, but hate to do "touristy" things; I'd rather spend a week on the French countryside than go up the Eiffel Tower.

18. I haven't painted my fingernails or toes in months.

19. After 10 grueling years of fighting against my mom when she was giving me piano lessons, I actually enjoy playing now and practice almost every day.

20. I hate my chin.

21. I wear my pajamas all day, unless I'm out doing something. When I get home, I immediately put on my pajamas again.

22. I love birds and like to point them out to my kids (I thank my appreciation of nature/bird watching class I took in college). I will hike halfway across the mall parking lot to let Portia see a gaggle of Canada Geese.

23. I'd rather read a book than watch TV any day.

24. My husband is by far a better cook than I am.

25. Yoga's my new favorite exercise.

26. I live in Salt Lake City—even though I swore I’d never live in Utah when I came out here to go to BYU.

27. I love cats.

28. I don’t mind driving distances and go by myself (with my kids) to visit my sister in California every year.

29. I like jogging, most of the time.

30. I wanted desperately to be a gymnast when I was a kid but had to settle for cheerleading since it was much, much cheaper.

31. I take a ridiculous amount of pleasure seeing my daughter Bianca excel at piano and viola.

32. I expect a lot (probably too much) from my kids.

33. I used to collect frogs, still have a lot hanging around my house.

34. I have to make my bed every day and will make it right before bed (if I didn't earlier) just so I can climb into a made bed.

35. My favorite flower is the calla lily.

36. I love Thai and Indian food.

37. I’m afraid to get on a motorcycle.

38. I love blue eyes.

39. I’m in two book clubs and two writing groups—and now a themed-blog group. =)

40. My husband is the greatest.

41. I bought my first purse this year. I can’t believe I waited so long to get one. It’s great to have everything with me!

42. I love reading in the bath.

43. I can’t stop looking at my split ends.

44. My favorite book is Tess of the d’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy.

45. My favorite poem is Maggie and Milly and Molly and May (Cummings).

46. I’ve never had a cavity.

47. I don’t believe in vitamin supplements (well, only a little).

48. I’m addicted to chapstick.

49. I’ve done a round off, back tuck after having each of my children.

50. My favorite movie is Little Women with Winona Ryder and Christian Bale.

51. My daughter taught me how to play chess and beats me 9 out of 10 times.

52. I’m done having kids.

53. I have way too many gray hairs to be 34.

54. My daughter Miranda was 15 months old when she died in a car accident.

55. I hate being late.

56. I love spending a lot of time finding the perfect present and enjoy giving presents more than getting them.

57. I'm spending a fortune on my eight-year-old's teeth this year--three cavities and she's getting braces.

58. I love soup.

59. I want to go back to college someday for my PhD (I guess a master’s would be okay).

60. I don’t like to bake.

61. I’m short.

62. My husband and I have a fourplex downtown SLC that I manage.

63. Christmas is my favorite holiday.

64. I’m a snowboarder and worked at a ski resort all through college. Now Bianca’s taking snowboarding lessons.

65. I’ve never left the U.S. I must remedy this soon.

66. One day, I want a house with a two-story library.

67. I’m a primary teacher and love to sing the primary songs in Sharing Time.

68. I like to mix Diet Coke with Coke when I’m getting a fountain drink. That way, I feel a little bit better.

69. I love classical music. But also classic rock.

70. I collect books illustrated by Hugh Thomson. And I love all old books with tipped-in color plates.

71. I drink hot cocoa every day, as regularly as coffee drinkers.

72. My favorite color is blue.

73. I wear glasses and like them because they make me look different. I don’t want contacts or surgery.

74. I’ve been married for ten years and have lived in the same house for nine. Eric and I met at BYU and lived in the same apartment building.

75. I scrapbook and love blog books.

76. I drive a BMW X3.

77. I graduated with an English major and Business minor from BYU (and finished in four years).

78. I’ve never broken a bone in my body.

79. I hate spiders.

80. I love lemonade, but only freshly squeezed. I always know the best places to get lemonade.

81. I love camping but my husband doesn’t, so we just don’t go.

82. All of my girls were born by C-section.

83. I love Jottum clothes for my girls. I’ve been waiting for a certain dress to show up on the Internet for almost two years now. And the dress has a name. Someday the Stephania will be on one of my girls.

84. I love the feeling of fresh sheets.

85. I have a wonderful cleaning girl who I can’t live without. What did I do before Jen was in my life?

86. My 2-year-old Portia changes clothes at least six times a day.

87. My house has to be straightened every night or I can’t sleep (that includes all dishes out of the sink).

88. When I was a kid, I had to share a room and always wanted my own space. Now I’m married and have to share a room still! I make sure my kids have their own rooms but they want to share. I give up!

89. I want to build a nice playhouse for my kids.

90. I love having my back scratched.

91. I cry easily and care much too much what other people think.

92. I think crown molding is beautiful and I love cool ceilings in houses and buildings.

93. I love going to see the symphony.

94. I don’t like white elephant gifts.

95. I hate when kids walk through my back yard. I desperately need a fence! This summer. . .

96. I loved having a godmother as a kid. I wish we still did that in my family.

97. Barbecue chips are my favorite.

98. I love trees and wish they grew bigger in Utah.

99. When I was a kid riding the bus, I always looked forward to looking at this house that had a pond in the backyard with an island in the middle. I’ve always, always wanted my very own island in my very own pond. I dreamed about rowing a little boat out to the island and having a little house on the island that was mine, all mine.

100. I hate when my fingernails and hair grow. I just wish they’d stay the same length.