100 Things About Me

1. I'm a Christian.

2. I was born in the state in which I live and have never lived in another state except for the 4 years I went to college in a bordering state.

3. I have the same initials as my real mom. (Well, I did until I got married.) My parents did that on purpose as a way to "name" me after her.

4. My real mom died in a car accident when I was 10.

5. My dad remarried 3 yrs later.

6. I have a brother 2 yrs younger than I am and a half-sister 14 yrs younger than I am.

7. I am partially deaf in my left ear.

8. My deafness was discovered when I failed my kdg hearing tests.

9. I have had numerous ear surgeries throughout the years.

10. I wore a hearing aid for a year or 2 as a young teenager, but it was causing moisture problems in my ear so I had to quit wearing it.

11. My husband is my best friend.

12. I have 2 best girlfriends.

13. I met one of them when we were in 8th grade.

14. We went to high school together.

15. We roomed together for 4 yrs of college.

16. I met my other best girlfriend in college.

17. Josh and I met in college.

18. We started dating in October of our first year at the same college and got married the summer after we graduated.

19. We never broke up while dating each other.

20. We got married in 1997.

21. I graduated from college with a degree in elementary education.

22. I taught for 1 1/2 yrs until our oldest child was born.

23. Since then I've been a SAHM.

24. I don't plan on ever going back to teaching.

25. Josh and I have 5 children ... E, J, G, F, and S.

26. We also have 2 little girls, Grace and Hannah, who were born just over a year apart but died in utero. They were both born after S in 2007 and 2008.

27. I wear contact lenses but only in one eye.

28. This is my favorite number.

29. This is the date of my birth.

30. My favorite colors are pink and cranberry.

31. I rarely wear pink.

32. I usually wear jeans and a t-shirt.

33. I am a good speller.

34. I am also good with grammar and punctuation.

35. Spelling and grammar mistakes irk me greatly!

36. I rarely do the dishes at home. Josh does!

37. I've been told that I'm a good cook.

38. No one ever taught me how to cook, and I never took a food/cooking class.

39. I learned by following recipes.

40. I've learned how to substitute things in and change things in recipes over the years.

41. I've been blogging since May 11, 2005.

42. I started blogging on my private blog Dandelions & Roses.

43. The dates on that blog don't go back that far because I erased all the entries when I switched to Wordpress.

44. But later I switched back to Blogger.

45. I like Blogger better.

46. I print out my blog entries and collect them in a big binder. They're like a big diary.

47. I've never been able to keep a diary for more than a few months (if that!) before blogging.

48. I'm afraid of heights.

49. Even climbing ladders makes me nervous.

50. I've also been afraid of bees, wasps, and hornets since I was a child ...

51. ... but I was never stung til I was about 31 or 32.

52. I can play the piano and flute.

53. I was in a marching band in high school.

54. I was also a cheerleader.

55. When I was in college I had 16" of my hair cut off.

56. After getting it cut, my hair was still down to my shoulders.

57. I wish I'd known about Locks of Love back then so I could have donated my hair.

58. If Josh is gone somewhere and is late getting back and hasn't called, I start imagining that all kinds of horrible things have happened to him.

59. When I was little, I used to wish I was named Danielle, Roxanne, or Alexandra.

60. I like my name now.

61. I also used to wish I was left-handed.

62. When I was little I wished I had red hair.

63. Then when I got older, I wanted long curly hair like Julia Roberts.

64. I've since made peace with my hair and like it the way it is.

65. My favorite foods are cheesecake, seasoned curly fries with BBQ sauce, fresh pineapple, and frozen custard.

66. I struggle with my weight.

67. I struggle with depression.

68. I love living in the country.

69. I do not want to live in the city.

70. I've wanted a big family since I was a child. Thankfully Josh wanted one, too!

71. 5 children doesn't seem like that big of a family to me ...

72. ... except when it comes to the noise level!

73. I rarely wear make-up.

74. When I do wear make-up, it's usually just eye-liner and mascara.

75. I started getting gray hair in college ...

76. ... but I've never dyed my hair.

77. I love to read!

78. As a child I only read books about horses or the Little House books.

79. I've since expanded my reading repertoire.

80. I enjoy reading historical fiction, Christian fiction, and some fantasy [Think LOTR and the Inheritance Cycle (Eragon).].

81. I like to travel.

82. The only foreign country I've visited is Canada.

83. Someday I'd like to visit Germany.

84. I also hope to go on a cruise to Alaska.

85. I fell in love with Mt. Rainier and the mountains when I visited Josh's home in Washington one summer in college.

86. I enjoy photography.

87. Someday I hope to take a photography class.

88. I have a number of reoccurring dreams.

89. I can flare my nostrils.

90. I can curl my tongue.

91. My ethnic heritage is mostly German with a little bit of English.

92. I have collected and recorded hundreds of names in Josh's and my family trees, even some going back to the 1700's.

93. I haven't done much of the research on my own but have collected it from various other family members who are interested in our family genealogy.

94. I have a number of old family pictures of our ancestors, one of a couple from the mid 1800's.

95. I don't like seafood, but I like fish fry.

96. Toothpaste and the strings that come off a banana gross me out.

97. I do use toothpaste when I brush my teeth.

98. The only cavity I've ever had was a small one in one of my wisdom teeth that wasn't discovered til I had my wisdom teeth removed.

99. I love the smell of brownies, baking bread, and the bottoms of new tennis shoes. (Yes, that last one is weird. I know!)

100. I do not like conflict or confrontation.