Just a little info about ME!

This is my 500th post.

Yes, I have sat down at this computer 500 times and jotted down the thoughts in my head for the Internet community to read. I am sure my baseboards and flowerbeds have greatly suffered due to my extensive blogging.

Because this is my 500th post, I have decided to honor the tradition of posting 100 things about myself (which apparently I was supposed to do on my 100th post...but I didn't know that then!)

1. I was born in Louisiana.

2. I grew up in the same town of Arkansas all my life and am still friends with people whom I attended preschool.

3. My children are 21 months apart and used to be mistaken for twins quite frequently (not so much anymore...which is odd because they are closer in size than ever)

4. I have my Masters in Clinical Child Psychology

5. I presented my thesis at the American Psychological Association's national convention in 2001....a fact I often boast about to my husband.

6. I won an essay contest in Junior High and was awarded a $100 scholarship and a signed picture of William "The Refrigerator" Perry. Not sure if we ever cashed in that scholarship, but I am sure it would have paid for at least five or six meals at the Campus Center's Chick-fil-A.

7. I love to shop, but there are very few people who I actually enjoy shopping with (husband, my mom, close friends). Typically I just like to go alone.

8. I enjoy being alone. If I don't have some alone time each day, I am really grouchy.

9. I must start my day by being alone. This is the reason I wake up before anyone in my house. I enjoy the quiet of the morning and the chance to be by myself for a few moments. I have always done this...even as a kid.

10. I met my husband in college but did not date him in college.

11. Tobe proposed to me in a small Catholic Church in Mexico.

12. We are not Catholic.

13. Tobe and I had dated one week when we decided to get married.

14. We dated two months before we were engaged and got married nine months later.

15. We were best friends for three years before that, talking every day.

16. I spent two summers in Nairobi, Kenya.

17.While in college, I lived with this girl for four years. We were pot-luck roommates. I'd say the potluck thing worked out for us.

18. The first time I met Alison (see number 17) we were wearing the exact same outfit...which involved khaki and denim. I believe we wore a variety of combinations of that outfit for the next four years while at ACU.

19. Although I grew up in a small town with a private Christian university, I opted to travel 500 miles away and attend another private Christian university.

20. Number 19 was the best decision I have ever made because it allowed me to grow-up and discover who I really am. (and because a cute boy named Tobe attended there)

21. Tobe and I shared a class together the Spring of my sophomore year.

22. He never noticed me in that class.

23. I thought he was loud and obnoxious.

24. He notices me now and I never find him to be either 1. loud or 2.obnoxious.

25. My junior and senior year of college I lived with four other girls at 1017 Washington Blvd in Abilene.

26. We all still refer to each other as "roommates" even though it has been almost ten years since we lived together.

27.I am adopted.

28. I have an older brother who is two years, two months, and two days older than me.

29. I have a younger brother who is five years younger than me.

30. I used to treat my younger brother as my own personal baby doll when I was a kid.

31. I love to cook.

32. I have red hair...as do my mother and my grandmother.

33. I am secretly (okay, not so secretly) hoping Evelyn's hair will keep getting more red.

34. I love going to the movies.

35. I worked at a movie theater my Senior year of high school, where my friends were allowed to come up and hang out with me while I "worked."

36. I lived on a steady diet of popcorn, Coke, and gummy bears my Senior year of high school (see number 35). How I miss the metabolism of an 18 year old.

37. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because everything is beautiful and everyone is excited about Christmas being right around the corner.

38. Celebrating my birthday is very important to me.

39. I was in labor with Isaac for 26 hours...fortunately there were drugs involved by hour 16.

40. I went on a three mile walk with my mom after my water broke with Isaac because I wasn't really sure if it had broken or not.

41. I was in labor with Evelyn for a mere 9 hours. She came so quickly at the end that a doctor had to be pulled from the hall to deliver her (the nurse had not called my doctor in time).

42. After Evelyn's labor a nurse accidentally knocked over the sterile container holding the placenta and it went flying through the air. For some reason, this is quite amusing to me.

43. I sometimes struggle with having a filter on what I say (refer to number 42...a story others likely do not need to hear).

44. I love driving around and looking at Christmas lights.

45. Chicken and dumplings is my all time favorite food...my mom usually makes them for me when I go home.

46. I am addicted to Sonic drinks.

47. I am a member of MOPS.

48. I have always loved to write.

49. I one time started writing the next "great American novel" on a road trip with my family. It was a Cinderella-type story (original, huh?) with a lead character named Sophie. Not sure what happened to that great piece of work.

50. I have been working on a social skills book since Isaac was a baby and wonder if I will ever really finish it.

51. I taught Special Education for four years.

52. I was named Teacher of the Year my last year of teaching. Tobe and I were lucky enough to attend a special banquet where I was presented a trophy. I was seven months pregnant at the time.

53. I had half of my thyroid removed five years ago due to a tumor growing on it. To my knowledge it did not fly across the room during the procedure.

54. Tobe wanted to keep my thyroid in a jar on the mantle as a conversation piece, but we were not allowed to take it from the hospital.

55. I would like someone to give me a $20,000 gift certificate to Pottery Barn so I could redo my entire house.

56. I tend to be shy around people I do not know well.

57. I tend to talk too much around people I know too well.

58. I am good friends with my parents.

59.I am terribly scared of snakes. My kids will never visit the reptile house at the zoo unless someone else takes them.

60. I love to go out for chips and queso with my husband.

61. I swam competitively as a child on a swim team.

62. I have a close group of friends from junior high and high school with whom I am still good friends.

63. I love The Office.

64. My favorite movie of all time is Gone With the Wind.

65. I love anything associated with organization/schedules/order.

66. In grad school I was the Graduate Assistant for the statistics professor.

67. Although I have done well in school, math is my weak subject (making number 66 difficult).

69. While teaching, I was certified to physically restrain out of control children.

70. I occasionally had to restrain children in my classroom.

71. I have been bit, hit, kicked and verbally attacked by students....but loved my job.

72. My dad and I went on several medical mission trips to Mexico when I was in high school.

73. I exercise on a regular basis.

74. I love to read and visit the library frequently.

75. Tobe and I met through mutual friends.

76. I love naps...I REALLY love naps.

77. I am currently growing out my hair to donate to Locks of Love.

78. My college roommates and I participated in the intramural ACU rodeo

79. We attempted to catch goats. It was not a successful venture.

80. I love rainy days.

81. I love to do craft projects but rarely find the time or space to do so.

82. I purchased my super-rad double jogging stroller on Ebay (NIB).

83. I did a very loud victory dance when I "won" the jogging stroller on EBay in the very last seconds of a heated bidding war.

84. I have been snorkeling off the coast of Belize.

85. Despite a fear of heights, I climbed to the tallest tower of Chichen Itza.

86. I have seen the Cubs play at Wrigley Field.

87. Tobe's friend Doug, at Tobe's request, one time put a "Happy Birthday" banner on the roof of my house in college....and accidentally spelled my name with a backwards "N."

88. When Isaac was a baby, I sliced my left knee open on the front license plate of my car and had to go to the ER for stitches.

89. Pre-children, my husband and his good friend took me to a concert on a weeknight that ended up not starting until after midnight. I was a little bitter the next morning when my alarm clock went off.

90. Tobe and I attended the largest anti-war rally protesting the war in Iraq in London in 2002.

91. The two best wedding presents Tobe and I received were 1. A paid rental car to use for our week-long honeymoon in San Diego and 2. Concert tickets to Matchbox 20 (thanks Mark!).

92. I occasionally miss shopping at the Mall of Abilene.

93. I love watching live, off-Broadway productions (My favorite is Annie...of course)

94. I have completed multiple 5K runs...some while pregnant.

95. I have seen Bruce Springsteen five times in concert....one time from the fourth row while pregnant with Isaac.

96. While pregnant with Evelyn, I saw the Dixie Chicks in concert (unfortunately not from the fourth row).

97. My accent becomes much stronger (and much more Southern) when I am tired or am at my parents' house.

98. I know how to run a multiple regression analysis (Jealous? See number 66.)

99. I have very little musical ability, yet make up songs for my kids all the time.

100. I'll be sad when blogging is a thing of the past.

Thanks for reading!