Did you Know?

Here's my Facebook 25, except I think I'm breaking the rules by not putting it on Facebook but my blog instead:

1. When I was younger I was PAINFULLY shy and quiet in public. "In public" being the operative phrase.

2. I fall asleep at the drop of a hat on long freeway drives. It's pathetic. When we used to live in Provo, I would teach at my mom's house in Salt Lake City on Tuesday afternoons. On the 45 minute drive home, I would invariably have to pull over and take a nap.

3. I took a tap dance class in college and LOVED it! I still have my tap shoes - just in case.

4. I worked for Appleby's for a summer in college and despised every second I was there. But it was really good for me.

5. I have the entire movie of "The Little Mermaid" memorized. No, I'm not kidding. And no, I can't blame this on my children. I watched it a lot when it first came out.

6. I've never dyed my hair.

7. In Seventh Grade, my friend Sovijada Ly got me to try out the Track Team. I ran track and cross country for 5 years.

8. I don't really like running that much.

9. I'm a very committed person.

10. In high school, I practiced the violin for at least an hour every day. It's amazing what happens when you do that.

11. In Sixth grade, our class did a play. It was taken from the TV show that Kirk Cameron was in - can't remember the name...Anyway, as I said, back then, I was painfully shy, but deep down, I was a diva. It's a bad combination. So I got the part of the mother. I was the BORINGEST actress that ever was. At the end of the play, I was supposed to do an impromptu happy "dance." I think I developed an ulcer over this. I would have rather have been swallowed up by the lavatory than dance by myself in front of the entire 6th grade. I would have rather been eaten alive by maggots than dance in front of the entire 6th grade. I would have rather crawled inside a smelly rotten locker and licked it clean than dance in front of the entire 6th grade. I'm still surprised that I survived the three performances we had.

12. I love my family - all of my family - fiercefully.

13. When I was young, I used to stay up late at night to read. I would use my hot pink alarm clock for light. Maybe this is why my eyes are so bad?

14. I am taking conducting lessons. Did you know that you could take conducting lessons? I didn't. It is very cool. We have a stand, a metronome, music excerpts, and most importantly, a full-length mirror. It's a very nuanced skill to learn. My teacher is Jana Minov, and is one of my dear Serbian friends, and has a doctorate in conducting. She is amazing.

15. By writing all these random things, I'm avoiding mopping my kitchen floor. Which is really my motivation for most things in life. "If I'm not busy doing such-and-such, I might have no more excuses to not mop the kitchen floor!"

16. I'm singing the national anthem tomorrow for a gymnastics meet. I'm hoping Adam will mop the kitchen floor while I'm gone.

17. When Lizzie was first born, I was obsessed with Martha Stewart. This was because I realized how deficient I was in the "Homemaking Skills" category. It was bad. But soon enough, I was cooking meals, cleaning, organizing and crafting! If you want to learn a skill, Martha is there for you.

18. One cold winter, I even made wreaths out of ice with things like holly berries frozen in them. They were really pretty, and I would hang them outside near our Christmas garlands. It would be fun to make those again, but not in Arizona.

19. I really love flowers and want to plant a flower garden this year. My mom is an amazing gardener - maybe she can help me...

20. I think I like 30 Rock more than The Office now. Alec Baldwin and Liz Lemon are hi-lar-i-ous.

21. If you haven't tried strawberried dipped in sour cream and rolled in brown sugar, you are missing a fine thing in life.

22. I passed the AP Calculus Exam in High School. And then I never took any more math again. But I'm glad I took calculus - It was good for my self-confidence.

23. I used to have actual dreams at night that I was singing a role on Broadway. But I'm over it.

24. I have been going to Lifetime Fitness twice a week for 10 months, and they have yet to issue me a real card. I've asked them at least 4 times to replace my expired temporary card. "It should be mailed out to you in about 2 weeks" is the same response I always get. What do I have to do to prove my loyalty?! Sheesh!

25. I'm so looking forward to a romantic Valentine's Day dinner with the love of my life tomorrow night!

So, the other night I was lying in bed...

...admiring our new bedspread that I bought last month. I love the colors, and the checkerboard pattern...And suddenly, it dawned on me: I've seen this pattern before! Wait - it's more than that...I created this pattern! And I instantly remembered...this! (Look carefully at the checkerboard pattern...)
This is one of the "Enrichment-At-A-Glance" posters I made last January 2006 when I was the Enrichment leader. The idea was that we would have these hanging in different areas at church, and the women could just "glance" at it and see what was happening that month. We had been getting complaints that the women never knew what was going on. These posters stopped all complaints. "You don't even have to read!" we told them.

I suppose that a therapist might tell me that my subconscious misses being the enrichment leader (I was released last November) and that's why I picked this bedspread out last month.


Or maybe my subconscious saw that Enrichment calander pattern and instantly felt an inexplicable exhaustion and a desire to get some more sleep.


Either way, I can't go to bed now without thinking that maybe I should go to Book Club or Scrapbooking this week!

Random Ramblings for a Tuesday Night...

1. My eyes are dry. Contacts at the end of the day and staring at the computer for hours aren't a good mix.

2. My allergies are acting up. blech.

3. The dishes aren't done. I feel like I cooked ALL day long today, because I dropped dinner off to the missionaries at 5, but we didn't eat till almost 7. I am so done with the kitchen.

4. Adam bought new shoes today. Sports shoes. This is big for him. I think his old pair are from before we were married. Next Footwear Replacement: Skis!

5. It's hard to sing with allergies. blech.

6. My carpool buddy, Gordana from Serbia, gave me a big bag of grapefruit last night that she picked from her tree. Yay! Fresh fruit!

7. Eli told his Daddy on the phone that "I'm sorry that you're going to miss our beautiful dinner." It was so sweet. And funny! Where did he get that from? It would have been sweeter had Eli actually eaten that beautiful dinner.

8. Our floors are clean. Say what you want about the rest of the house, but the floors are clean!

9. Mopping is exhausting.

10. I think I missed American Idol tonight. I'm still mad about last year.

11. Lizzie caught Adam and I smooching in the hallway after she was supposedly in bed and started laughing her head off. So then we did too. I guess it was pretty hilarious!

12. I used a translator program today to translate an Italian love song text. The English version it came up with included phrases about "8x11's." I'm a little uncreative, I suppose, but I don't see quite how that could fit into a love song. Wait. Let me try. "How do I love thee, let me count the ways...I couldn't fit them all onto an 8x11 sheet of paper!" Now, that's inspiring!