Random facts about me...

Due to a somewhat un-blogworthy week, I thought I'd share a post full of random facts about myself that I have been composing in my head and jotting down on scratch paper for weeks.  You know, so years from now my kids can confirm the fact that I really am the crazy mom they think I am! ;o)

1. First and foremost, I am a stereotypical firstborn.  And I married another stereotypical firstborn.  Emily is already starting to exhibit strong firstborn characteristics.  The poor girl never had a chance! ;o)  If this doesn't mean anything to you, you should read Born to Win by Dr. Kevin Leman.  It's good.  And it explains a lot.  Especially if you are, or act like, a firstborn.
2. I am a bit of a control freak.  It has taken me years to admit this, but I'm starting to come to grips with it.  The turning point was when I read about myself in Born to Win.
3. I am also a maximizer (which is closely related to, but not exactly the same as a perfectionist) and a conflict-avoider.  These are both strengths and weaknesses.
4. I am really okay with silence at home (which is often hard to come by). I don't need background noise like the radio or TV.  It often distracts me from the task at hand. 
5. The "tupperware" (i.e. plastic container) drawers in our kitchen are amazingly still organized and look almost the same as they did when I re-organized them in February. This is thanks to Fact #1, a husband who is even neater and more organized than I am (refer to Fact #1) and children who generally leave them alone--opting instead for the cupboard of pots & pans.
6. I think capris have been one of the greatest fashion items of the last decade. I wear them almost every day in the summer. However, I'm having a hard time with Bermuda shorts. I just don't feel like I can pull it off.  Not sure why.

7. Up until 4 years ago I refused to wear flip-flops because I hated the way the strap felt between my toes.  So I only wore slides.  I got over it when my feet got too puffy while pregnant in the summertime, but I'm very particular about the type of material the strap is made of.  I don't do cheap Old Navy flip-flops.  I do, however, absolutely LOVE the Crocs Prepair flip-flops I splurged on and bought myself this summer.  I live in them, both indoors and out, and have the sandal tan to prove it. :o)
8. This is my current favorite shirt--maybe ever.  I am almost embarrassed to admit that I own it in 5 different colors/patterns.  It is dressy enough to make it look like I tried, casual enough for everyday and minimizes my [perceived]* figure flaws better than anything else. *Note: Courtesy of Google (which very well may be the best web site ever invented), I actually spent 5 minutes skimming an online article on the correct usage of punctuation in the English language in order to determine whether or not to use brackets or parentheses in this instance.  I'm still somewhat unsure and this bothers me (refer to Fact #1).  However, in the name of humor I am okay with foregoing the rules about complete sentences in this blog post. ;o) 
9. On a related note, I am probably part of a very small group of people who compose, edit, read, reword, spellcheck, read again, post and then read the posted version of a blog post almost every time just to make sure I didn't make any blatant grammatical errors and the body flows nicely from one paragraph to another with visually appealing formatting of words and pictures.  The same is true for most emails I send.  No wonder it took me days to write two-page papers for school! (refer to Fact #1)
10. I have issues with the way people misuse and mispronounce the words yeah/yay/yea.  I just finished another mini-research session courtesy of Dictionary.com (another very useful web site) and confirmed that I'm pretty much correct on this one.  You're welcome for the following lesson in linguistics (blame Fact #1):
1. yeah (yě'ə, yā'ə) adv. Informal. Yes.
2. yay (yā) interj. Used as an exclamation of pleasure, approval, elation, or victory
3. yea (yā)
   
   –adverb
   1. yes (used in affirmation or assent).
   2. indeed: Yea, and he did come.
   3. not only this but even: a good, yea, a noble man.
   –noun
   4. an affirmation; an affirmative reply or vote.
   5. a person who votes in the affirmative.
11. I think I'm one of the very few people who use "o" for a nose in my emoticons. :o)  This probably drives other people nuts. If you're really bored, you can find an extensive history on emoticons here courtesy of Wikipedia (another fun web site).
12. I am not a morning person. I don't do life well before 7:00am and almost flat-out refuse to do it before 6:00am if I have any choice. My most productive time of the day is from 8:00-11:00pm. That is why my children are almost always in bed by 7:30-8:00pm.
13. I need my sleep. I can barely function on 7 hours. I normally get closer to 8 hours. Nine hours would be ideal. Ten would be luxurious.  Thus, the baby stage of child-rearing is very hard on me.  I try to take naps to make up for lost time when desperately needed (see Fact #14, #15 & #17), but I often spend more time trying to convince myself to get back out of the bed/couch afterwards than actually napping.
14. I have a built-in weather radar and a fascination for weather in general, which I somewhat blame/credit to growing up on a farm.  I find it nearly impossible to sleep through a thunderstorm.  I usually wake up in just enough time to get to the computer, check the radar and run around the house shutting windows before the rain starts.  Then I lie awake until everything has blown over.  This has saved many things from getting wet but has cost me a lot of sleep the last month or two.  I recently purchased a weather radio to put by my bedside.  I'm not exactly sure why I would need one given my innate ability to sense bad weather and the plethora of weather web sites in my Favorites menu, but I've wanted one ever since the Parkersburg tornado when we didn't hear the sirens going off in Denver because the rain/hail was too loud.
15. I also have an incredibly sensitive "mommy radar."  I can wake up in the middle of the night from the slightest child's cry or the faint *tink* of the toilet lid in the upstairs bathroom.  However, I rarely hear Austin's alarm go off two feet from my head.  Weird.
16. There is at least one clock in almost every room in our house.  In fact, at last count I had to manually change 21 clocks for daylight-savings time.  That doesn't include the electronic devices that update themselves.  I am almost lost without a watch.  I blame this on Fact #1.
17. I admit to being a Facebook addict at one point but have since broken free.  I still log on, and even occasionally share something, but I don't keep up on others like I used to.  I have also cut in half the number of blogs I follow, although the ones I do read, I follow very closely thanks to Google Reader.  I am now addicted to blogging myself, which is good news for you!  I look at it as my main hobby (of which I have very few) and a stress reliever.
18. I hope to one day get this blog published in a bound book format.  I've casually looked at a few web sites that do this, but haven't actually delved into it.  Someday.  You know, as in, "Someday I'll get the kids' photo albums updated." ;o)
19. Speaking of which, I do have printed photo albums (courtesy of Winkflash) for Emily up through age two and Lincoln through 5 months.
20. Growing up I traveled all over the country.  In college I did a semester abroad in Hull, England, and spent three weeks traveling the European continent along with other smaller expeditions.  In the 4 1/2 years since I got pregnant with Emily I haven't set foot in an airplane.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't even left the state of Iowa.  I've only spent 3 nights in a hotel (all without kids--the only nights without kids), and it was only in Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids.  That is about to change.  Austin is taking me to Kansas City for our anniversary next week, and I'm planning a day-trip to the Twin Cities later this summer.  Plus, Austin has promised to take me somewhere warm next winter.  I can hardly wait!
21. It's no secret that the last two Iowa winters have been especially harsh.  As a result, I have felt the profound effects of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).  I never realized how much it affected me or how common it actually is until this year.  As long as I live in Iowa (which I plan to do for a long time, if not a lifetime) I will have to deal with this.  At least I understand what's going on now and can develop a game plan for trying to combat the symptoms.

Congratulations!  I'm impressed that you made it all the way through this rambling post.  I'm sure you think I'm kind of nutty by now.  Or as one of my favorite authors, John Ortberg, has penned a book, Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them.  As a reward (and test), I'll send a dozen cookies of your choice to the reader who leaves a comment with the closest guess of how much time it took to write this post.  For firstborn clarification, this includes actual time spent sitting in front of the computer but not time just thinking about it away from the computer.  Good luck! :o)