100 Things About Me

1. I was born about 6 weeks prematurely. As you might imagine, I am a very impatient person.

2. I never sneeze just once...it is usually between 5 and 7 times in a row, with the occasional 9 or 10. People who know I do this should wait until I'm done, instead of saying "bless you" with more incredulity with every sneeze that comes out. That got old really fast....like when I was 6 years old.

3. I have very little tolerance for people who are high maintenance in any regard.

4. I love my cats. I consider them family members. The sooner and more completely you understand this, the better we will get along.

5. I cannot knit in the car when it is close to a mealtime. I get all hot, sweaty, and pukey. I can read and things are fine. If we are nowhere near a mealtime, I can knit with no problems.

6. I am NOT a morning person. However, I exercise at 6:00 am because that is when I can fit it in. I still tend to not be fully awake until about 10:00 am.

7. I am very extroverted (love to be around other people, participate in social activities, etc.), but am extremely shy about initiating contact.

8. I am not one of those people who has to wear makeup everywhere they go. I only wear it when I absolutely have to...and even then I keep it very minimalist. I do love lipstick but I never remember to put it on.

9. My favorite things to eat are artichokes, tomatoes (fresh from the garden only), bread, cheese, and chocolate brownies. No, I'm not going to put them in any sort of order.

10. I have pretty nasty allergies and need to get shots for 6 different allergens on a monthly basis.

11. I bake bread almost every weekend. It started as something to do and a way to save money when I was out of work; now I prefer my own bread to anyone else's.

12. I love leftovers. I often cook tons more than I need of something so I can either freeze it, have a few nights' worth of suppers, or take some to work for lunch.

13. I hate driving. I do, however, love my car, so that makes things a bit more tolerable.

14. I have a bachelor's degree in English and American Literature, and a master's degree in Business.

15. I have a huge aversion to spending money. Even yarn purchases give me pause, and sometimes I even walk away from them.

16. Whenever organic is an option, that's what I choose.

17. I live pretty much the same way I did when I made half the amount of money I do now (see #15).

18. I love giraffes. I do not, however, collect items that are shaped like giraffes, or have giraffes on them.

19. I really, really hate flying. I will do it, but I'm pretty much miserable the whole time.

20. I am scared to death of tornadoes.

21. I have constant ringing in my ears. I don't notice it most of the time, but sometimes at night it is so loud I can't sleep...especially if I am under a lot of stress.

22. I put lots of sugar and cream in my coffee, but can't stand to put either one in my tea.

23. I hate when the temperature gets above 78 degrees.

24. I never, never, never buy clothes or shoes at full retail price. It is physically impossible for me to do so. I once witnessed a friend pay $70 for a blouse, and wasn't sure whether I should faint or vomit. In my opinion $70 should get you at least 3 or 4 articles of clothing, and even then I feel like I'm spending a ton of money.

25. I have wanted to live in Seattle since the first time I went there about 10 years ago. Actually, I decided I wanted to live there even before the plane landed, as I was looking out the window. Someday, I will do it.

26. I swim 10 miles a week (spread over 5 days) and do yoga once a week for an hour.

27. I grind my teeth at night, so I wear a night guard to protect my teeth. The dentist made it for me. It was not cheap, but it was some of the best money I've ever spent.

28. I always save the comics section of the paper to read with C. I have done this since we were first dating a LONG time ago. Right now we have over 2 months' worth piled up, waiting for us to read them.

29. I speak French halfway decently, and I speak a teeny-tiny bit of Italian. When we were in Italy last year I discovered that I also have a French accent speaking Italian (whereas I assumed I would have a really bad American accent).

30. I love wine. Red wine. I do not like beer at all, and I can take or leave most mixed drinks.

31. I drink far more water than anything else, though.

32. We stopped eating processed food sometime in 2000 or 2001. It was a big change at the time but now I can't even imagine buying that stuff.

33. My last name has an apostrophe in it, which many many web sites cannot handle. C says this is due to sloppy coding (and I believe him since he works for a web site right now).

34. When I am walking on a regular basis, I can walk a 12-minute mile outside. However, I am limited to a 16 or 17-minute mile on a treadmill, because walking any faster will give me horrific blisters. I have no idea why I generally only get blisters when using a treadmill, but it happens consistently.

35. I love things with smiley faces or hearts on them.

36. I am extremely allergic to roses and have been all my life. Due to this, I think they are ugly and smell bad. (Most men I tell this to cannot believe how lucky C is in this regard.)

37. I really am not interested in jewelry at all. (Again, C got very lucky here.)

38. When something happens to embarrass me, I usually stew about it for days.

39. I have horrible hand-eye coordination. Someone once tried to teach me to shoot pool, and I kept missing the cue ball. In general, I am really bad at any sport involving a ball (unless you count bowling, where I am very inconsistent, but sometimes get good results).

40. I am extremely anti-WalMart and will not shop there or Sam's Club. If this surprises you, I beg you to rent and watch this movie.

41. I pay off my credit card every month. I think I would break out in hives if I left a balance on it.

42. I am somewhat spatially challenged and often walk into the edges of doorways, thinking I have full clearance. I also commonly walk into the corners of file cabinets at work. I almost don't notice this anymore.

43. I used to love milk chocolate and hate dark chocolate, and then somehow my tastes suddenly reversed.

44. I stopped eating beef the day they found Mad Cow Disease in Canada. To satisfy my red meat cravings, I eat bison, ostrich, and venison. I think all of these taste better than beef anyway...though I do really miss corned beef.

45. I don't read many books...I was an English major in college, and the last thing I wanted to do with my free time was read a novel. That has pretty much stuck, though I do love cookbooks, gardening books, and knitting books.

46. I am, however, completely addicted to magazines. I have about a dozen subscriptions. I can usually read a magazine while knitting, which is a bonus.

47. When I was a kid, I loved dinosaurs and wanted to be a paleontologist.

48. What I actually do - work in database marketing for a huge bank.

49. When I get a cough, it usually will not go away without the help of prednisone (nasty, nasty stuff).

50. I wear black more than any other color, but my favorite color is plum/eggplant purple.

51. I have been coloring my hair red since I was 20.

52. I have a bad habit of piling things, which translates to a huge mess in my house. I can't seem to break the habit for more than 2 or 3 days.

53. I wear wool socks year round. Good thing I like to knit them!

54. My favorite season is autumn.

55. Now that I've been to Europe once, I have this huge urge to go back and see more. Constantly.

56. I have no gaydar. None. Every time I've found out someone I knew was gay, I've been surprised.

57. I love taking surveys.

58. I hate staying in hotels.

59. I have very little concept of time. If I don't have access to a clock, I am very likely to under or overestimate the amount of time that has passed...by a lot.

60. I get very uncomfortable in banks, gas stations, and post offices. I really have no explanation.

61. I still get excited at the end of every day that I am going to see my husband when I get home. (We have been together for 12 years; married almost 5) :)

62. I don't really like talking on the phone, and I usually cringe when my phone rings. This is kind of weird to me, because I used to be completely the opposite. Not sure what happened or when, really.

63. I don't wear high heels very often...I like them, but it's too miserable driving in them, so I don't usually bother.

64. I get very grumpy when my blood sugar gets low. It's best to keep me well fed. :)

65. I also do NOT deal with sleep deprivation very well...even if it's only a little deprivation, like the cat wakes me up 1/2 hour before the alarm goes off and I don't get back to sleep. It usually takes me at least a week to get back on track from missing an hour.

66. I am very superstitious. I have lots of superstitions that I have made up on my own (and will not admit exactly what they are). They are not the classic ones.

67. I cannot stand misuse of quotation marks, apostrophes, or commas. Makes my skin crawl.

68. I hate toe cleavage. Ew. I will never buy a pair of shoes that creates it, and I can't stand to see it on anyone else.

69. I always use cloth napkins.

70. I like burnt toast.

71. I do not like to leave home on Sundays. For anything. I do go to the gym first thing in the morning, but that is it. If I need to run errands on a Sunday, it grates at me. I need this time to prepare for the coming week. I have been like this as long as I can remember.

72. I have a weird thing with my jaw called TMJ. It causes headaches and all sorts of fun things. Because of it, I cannot chew gum and usually stay away from other chewy sorts of foods.

73. I love textures...especially in fabric. (This, I think, means I was destined to be a knitter.) The thing that bums me out most about warm weather is I can't wear velvet or moleskin or warm fuzzy sweaters and fleeces.

74. When I was very very young, and my mom was not home, my dad would sit in the dark and burn incense and listen to Pink Floyd. (My guess is he was probably also smoking pot, but I was all of 2 years old so that would not have sunk in with me.) Ever since, I have very violent reactions if I hear any music by Pink Floyd. I shudder just thinking about it.

75. When I was in college, I went with some friends to see a showing of The Wall. Don't ask me what possessed me to do this. I don't know how I survived.

76. I love bumblebees. They are so cute and fuzzy. I would like to pet one, but I suspect it would not take that attention the right way - so I just sit and watch them do their work.

77. I loathe carpet. Really can't stand it. Am not the least bit happy that there are still two rooms in my house that have it.

78. I have more than a little disdain for smokers. Sorry if you happen to be one, but the disdain isn't going away.

79. Ditto for SUV drivers. I may like you in every other way, but if you drive an SUV there is always going to be this little black spot on my thoughts for you.

80. My favorite flowers are sunflowers.

81. It drives me crazy when my house is not clean. Unfortunately, I also detest cleaning. This puts me in a huge conundrum most of the time. I am usually a bit agitated due to the mess.

82. My blog title comes from the song "Jasmine and Rose" by Clan of Xymox.

83. I have a ridiculous piling habit. I make piles all over the house. This leads to most of the angst in item #81.

84. I think that, in general, the U.S. Democratic Party is WAY too conservative.

85. I love coffee so much that when my doctor told me I had to cut out caffeine, I searched for and found a good quality decaf. It's not just the caffeine I love.

86. I don't like walking into a dark room. I do not mind being in the dark, but I hate walking into a room that is already dark.

87. I don't like raisins, except in oatmeal cookies.

88. I love cities.

89. I do not consider myself to be very adventurous.

90. I like very active vacations. I am not the type to sit around the beach or poolside. I want to be out and about doing and seeing things. If I wanted to do nothing, I could do that at home.

91. I love zoos...at least, I love good ones where you can tell they treat the animals well.

92. I have terrible balance.

93. I can't stand the colors blue and green matched together, unless the blue is from a pair of jeans. My mom always told me blue and green did not go together, and even now that lots of people tell me that's not true, I can't shake it.

94. I love farmers' markets. I usually take a day off work a few times a year just to go (the good ones are usually on Fridays).

95. My eyes are green, but they look a different shade of green depending on what I am wearing.

96. I like massages that most people would probably think are torture. I like extreme deep-tissue work, which can hurt but it releases the tension that causes day-to-day soreness and pain. But in general I would not categorize my massages as relaxing. Therapeutic, yes; relaxing, no.

97. I'm not much of a kid person. I don't actively dislike children, but they don't excite me either.

98. I am very very picky about restaurants...but I will happily eat just about anything someone cooks at their house, without judgement.

99. I have an annual subscription to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (whom I vastly prefer to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, despite the reputation of the latter).

100. I hope most people like me, but I don't lose sleep over those who don't. It's not worth worrying about.