25 Things About Me

This has been going around Facebook for several days and I have been tagged more than once. Rather than ignore it, I decided to post it on my blog. That way I get a couple of things done at once! And, since most of my friends are on Facebook and have either already done this or been tagged ... I'm just forging ahead. If you'd like to do one of these in a note on Facebook or anywhere else, consider yourself tagged.

...these are in no particular order.

1. I'm addicted to Diet Mt. Dew. I remember when it came out - the first place I found it was in northern Minnesota on a fishing trip. I was pretty sure that Jesus was coming back at that point. My husband thinks that my blood will run green and refuses to drink the stuff because it looks like nuclear waste.

2. I just wiped my cat's cold wet nose with a tissue. That's weird. But, he was nudging me and rather than dealing with cold and wet all at once, I wiped it off. He didn't like it. He also isn't giving me a lot of space to type right now. He insists on taking up every bit of available landscape on my desk.

3. Max and I met online in 1994 - before the internet was common. I had actually been online since 1987, back in the dark ages of text only conversation. When AOL's GUI (Graphical User Interface) came out, we abhorred it. But then we were only on 9600 baud modems (step up from 300 to 1200 to 2400 to blazing speed!) and hated all of the download time each time you logged on. We also paid per hour to be online - life was expensive then.

4. I am blessed at this point in my life to not have to be in the workforce. Now, I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life.

5. Writing is a passion of mine. Bible study is also a passionate pursuit for me. I'm doing my best to combine those into something productive.

6. My mom was an amazing writer. I never would have imagined that I would be doing this at any point in my life - I could never have compared myself to her. But, look what God does!

7. I love my siblings. Carol and Jim mean everything to me and I think we are fortunate to be so tightly knit. Jim and Janet, Matthew, Emma and Jacob fill up my life. When they moved back to Nebraska, my life was wholly complete.

8. I have the best friends in the world. The early years of my life were always in transition and after a few years with friends, I ended up moving away. The fact that I still can call them friends and that I have met incredible people throughout the years and established amazing relationships is enough to wipe me out. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up." I have many that have helped me up throughout my lifetime. Thank you!

9. It's sometimes quite lonely in my mind and I'm thankful for the friends and family that I have. I miss my parents a lot and still cry when I think about the amazing life I had with them. If there was one thing I wish I could teach people it would be to treat your family with love and respect. I'm appalled at the awful ways we have discovered to abuse our loved ones. I miss my parents so much and desperately wish they were still here for me to love.

10. My college degree was in music education. Dad wanted me to be a concert pianist. I did not want to spend hours alone in a practice room for the rest of my life. When I got out of college, music was losing its position in the schools and full-time jobs were few and far between. I'm not a music teacher any more. Whew!

11. I owned a business for 20+ years with my sister. I'm awfully thankful to no longer be responsible for employees and customers. SO not my personality.

12. I am trying to rid myself of the 'collecting this and that' bug. GoodNESS I have a lot of stuff. Max isn't much better - in fact, he's worse.

13. Knitting is a lot of fun for me. I had to learn it from a knittnig shop owner because my talented mother couldn't figure out how to translate what she was doing to what I needed to be doing. She blamed me for not being able to figure it out. Whatever.

14. I love purses and bags. A lot. Max tells me that I'm on the eternal quest for the perfect bag and I will never find it. I'm just glad when I find one that keeps me happy for longer than a month.

15. Being a geek is a lot of fun. It's easy for me to admit to being a bit geeky. I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means, but I have played most of them and enjoy them - they just take too much time out of my day!

16. Max and I made a choice to not have children, so you don't have to worry about asking me about this. We didn't get married until we were in our mid 30s. We also didn't know each other at all when we got married. My mother never told me that giving birth was the best thing that had happened to her, so I was in no hurry to go through that! *giggle*

17. Oh. Other food addictions. Bread. M&Ms. Medium rare steak. Cream cheese and/or cottage cheese goes on anything! Tony's Pizza.

18. I will probably always have a dachshund. These are such great dogs! And short. Like me. I got Leica as a rescue - she was an old lady (like me).

19. I love stuffed animals - what in the world? Like I need one more thing to take up space at my house. One year for Christmas, Max got me the very large stuffed lion - Aslan. I cried. I prefer 'real' looking animals (not taxidermy - thank you very much) to fakey things, but I do have a nice collection of Spongebob Squarepants characters.

20. There is nothing more important to me than my relationship with Jesus Christ. It defines who I am and how I act. I look forward to His return. I believe in the power of prayer and I believe that the Holy Spirit is active in our lives today. God is the creator of all things and I cannot wait to physically be in His presence for eternity.

21. I have lived in Nebraska for the last 24 years. Someday I'm moving back to Iowa, where my heart still resides.

22. Along with my geek persona, I love all things Star Wars & Star Trek. The original 3 Star Wars, thank you very much. Alright, not all things Star Wars. George Lucas screwed a lot of things up in a lot of ways and it still makes me growl. While I'm here, I'll just admit it - if it's sci fi (not horror) - I will watch it or read it. I love the way that Science Fiction can introduce new concepts and ideas to the world. (I loved The Matrix - not sure if it was the plotline or Keanu Reeves in that black leather coat).

23. Amazon's Kindle? Best thing ever. If you read my blog at all, you have read about my addiction to this great form of technology.

24/25. I'm finishing the last two with the most important human being in my life. When Max and I met online and then began talking to each other, we began to realize what an answer to prayer we were for each other. God knew so much better than I who would be the perfect man for me. I've never had someone in my life that allowed me to be fully me with no hesitation, no judgment. I am completely safe in this relationship and can barely comprehend sometimes how fortunate I am. He is brilliant and creative, he needs me in ways that fulfill me instead of draining me. We got married 4 1/2 months after meeting online - 1 month after meeting in person. There was a lot of 'getting to know each other' time ahead of us. Our 15th Anniversary is this April. It seems that every year I fall more and more in love with this man. What a gift I have been given.