1. I was born and raised in Montana. I haven't lived in Montana full time for 12 years, but I still consider myself a Montanan.
2. I've also lived in Utah, Nevada, New York and now New Jersey. I also lived for 11 weeks in Japan. All these places I lived in after I married the Warlock.
3. I'm the oldest of 5 children. Somehow against her will my Mom (for she doesn't love to travel much) raised a brood of born adventurers. I have a sister in Hawaii (who will be moving to Japan soon). I have a sister in Utah. I have a sister in Arizona. And my brother is in Korea.
4. I never make the same main dish twice. People talk about the same ten recipes they use over and over again, and this is my list of those: steamed spinach, brown rice, baked butternut squash, baked potato, baked sweet potato, ranch dressing, yogurt, balsamic vinaigrette, and waffles. You'll notice that most of these things are side dishes or condiments.
5. I do laundry Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I don't understand how four people can produce so much laundry.
6. I love outdoor adventures.
7. I didn't discover that I like outdoor adventures until I left home and was on my own. In high school I was too busy playing organized sports (basketball, volleyball, track) to do anything REALLY fun.
8. You could eat off my floor, too. Bardo does it all the time, and he's none the worse for wear.
9. My Dad's a mason (he builds stuff with brick, block, stones and rocks). He owns his own business. My mom became a paralegal after I graduated from high school. She understands the Warlock's line of work better then I do.
10. I used to be a bit of a feminist. I thought the YW deserved to have the gym at the church an equal amount of time as the YM. I have outgrown this phase.
11. I took piano lessons for a long time, and now I'm teaching Pippi and one of her friends. Growing up in a home with a piano was such a great blessing to me, so I'm glad I was able to convince the Warlock that our home needed a piano too. I didn't practice as much as I should have in my youth, and didn't have much of an interest in the piano until a Pop song book appeared on the piano. I loved playing and singing "Up Where We Belong." The Warlock has cured me of my taste for Pop songs.
12. I am the biggest disciplinarian in our primary. The kids love me.
13. I have one pair of shoes that I wear. I wear shoes until they wear out, then I get another pair. I do the same thing with jeans. The upshot is that I love to be with my kids more then I love to shop. And I hate shopping with my kids because it takes forever. Thank goodness for online shopping.
14. I love primary songs and I can play almost all of them. But I have never had the calling as primary pianist. (Hint. Hint.)
15. I waste my time on the Internet, reading your blogs!
16. My favorite thing about Christmas is the whole tradition of Christmas cards. I love getting them in the mail. It's like getting a big hug from a friend. And I love hearing about their lives.
17. I dream of someday having a house that looks like the Pottery Barn catalog.
18. I like to try new things: new foods, new places, new crafts.
19. I've been married nearly 8 years. I adore my husband.
20. I love to read children's literature. It's almost always clean. It's often funny. And I LOVE reading to Pippi.
21. I'd love to live in the country again. I lived in NYC for 3 years, and I was pretty good at living there, and I loved it, but it's not me. I want to live where I can dry my laundry in the warm sunshine so my clothes can smell like wind and fresh flowers. I want to grow a garden and hike in my backyard. I want to have enough storage space to store a year's supply of food. I want a little bit of "wildness" in my yard. I don't want my yard to end when it hits someone else's yard. I want it to end when it hits a grassland or a forest, but NOT a swamp.
22. My parent's had a hard time convincing me to learn to drive. I was very scared. My mom made me practice everyday by driving her to Crossroads Fitness Center. I put out one of the front lights, and then when I finally learned how to drive a stick (teaching me is what made Dad's hair gray, I think), I put a dent in the passenger's side door of my car. Sorry Mom and Dad. Thanks for making me learn, though. Life sure would be hard here without a driver's license.
23. I have siblings who are better then me in every way. I sure love them and wish that they lived closer.
24. I believe in direct communication. If you ask me what I think, I'll tell you. So if you're really sensitive, don't ask for my opinion.
25. I like to solve problems quickly. I talk and think through things constantly until I make a decision.
26. Don't ask me to compromise my standards. It's not going to happen. I don't drink caffeine. I have a friend who keeps on offering me Coke or Pepsi over and over again. She asks me if I eat chocolate? Grrr. My friend, I'm not judging you for drinking colas. I just do not drink them for myself.
27. My favorite radio station is the classical music station. I even like to listen to opera. I'm not sure what's become of me.
28. I've been downhill skiing four times. I'd really like to go more so I can get good at skiing. The warlock is an incredible skier (really, he's good at nearly everything he tries).
29. I give up sugar once or twice a year and can even stick with it a month or so. But sugar is a friend I must revisit.
30. I passed out Play Do to trick or treaters this year.
31. My favorite thing to touch is baby skin. I love how soft it is. I wish there was a way to get skin that soft again. I just love touching my lips to Bardo's chubby arms and cheeks.
32. I love wind blowing through my hair in the summer.
33. My favorite memory of living in New York is running Riverside Park in the morning with my friend.
34. I lost a beautiful daughter to a brain tumor on September 30th 2005. It's very sad, but it is the moment that solidified my testimony. Suddenly everything I'd been trying to live my whole life had so much more meaning. I miss my daughter terribly, and I will always love New York City because I spent my time there, making memories with her.
35. I hate ill-fitting sheets passionately. Right now my sheets don't fit right on my bed. It's the second set that I've purchased and I'm scared to waste money on others. Does anyone have an ideas on where to find sheets that will fit on a bed with a foam topper?
36. I love to exercise. You wouldn't know it to look at me. I love to be out walking, playing ball, etc. And I love to be by myself, running and walking. I love aerobics classes (though I find them a very inefficient way to workout) and kickboxing and tae bo. I'd love to take a karate class someday.
37. I love being with my kids. I just love to watch Bardo's face and I love to move my eyebrows in the way that makes him laugh. I love to kiss his chubby cheeks and talk to him about the world. I love Pippi's antics. I love the little games we make up together. The things she says are so cute. Today she told me I was one of "God's big kids." Yep. That's right. I love being a mother more then exercise, more then food, more then any work I've ever done.
38. I'm adored by angels. You can tell just by looking at their kisses all over my face.
39. My first summer job (besides working for Mom and Dad) was at a nursing home in the kitchen. It lasted two miserable days. One of the days the elevator broke and I had to push a cart full of mixed up pureed leftover up a very steep hill. Some of it sloshed on me and I vowed never to return. I didn't even come back to collect my paycheck.
40. My second summer job was at Rock Hand Hardware. I worked in the back at first, checking in freight and was eventually moved up to Nuts and Bolts Princess (the most tedious job ever). They would hand me a box of random fasteners and I would have to put them away. I got pretty good at it. I also would stand at the cash register and write the price on different odds and ends. And I would stamp flyers. We weren't allowed to just stand at the registers and chat with one another when we weren't busy with customers. We were there to work, and that suited me fine. I worked there for three summers, and the Warlock worked there for one summer right before law school.
41. I would never paint my fingernails or toenails if it weren't for Pippi.
42. I took a self-defense class my Freshman year of college. I'd try to practice my moves on the Warlock, but somehow I'd always end up upside down.
43. I love the movie Anne of Green Gables and the books. Growing up, she was the character in literature that I identified with the most.
44. My favorite sunsets are Montana summer sunsets. The sky really is bigger in Montana then anywhere else.
45. I believe that yoga and walking outdoors are the two best things anyone, but especially pregnant women can do. When I was pregnant with Pippi, as soon as Stacy would go to bed when the Warlock was at work, I'd stick in my yoga video. Sometimes the Warlock would come home during the free-dancing. He thought I was crazy and weird. There was suddenly this new and bizarre side to his wife. Thanks for loving me anyway Warlock.
46. When I was a little girl I liked to take my mom's "boom box" into the basement and dance by myself. I didn't like anyone to watch me. But I loved to just dance.
47. I love to sing, and I don't even care if other people hear me.
48. I hate to admit it, but I actually learn stuff when I watch The Magic School Bus with Pippi. I guess I've forgotten elementary school.
49. I once inhaled a chile pepper seed (accidentally). It numbed a good portion of my face for a little while. When Pippi accidentally inhaled a bit of cayenne pepper the other day, I felt her pain.
50. It took me forever to think of 49 things to say about myself Whew.
6 comments:
The "100 things about me" is such a great thing to post! It was fun learning more about you. My observation about you all of those years in NY was that you are a very loving mom and a fun one. You also glow from within. That's kind of a cheesy thing to say, but it's true!
Oh Silly Witch!!! I truly enjoyed reading this! Life is so happy, thrilling, and wonderful! Ya know what's cool? I knew most of these things about you! I am soooo glad that I know you!!!
Love ya!
This was fantastic. I laughed and cried and missed you. The way you handled losing your little one will always amaze me. You are grounded and spend your time doing very significant things. Dancing wildly and readingto Pippi, really, what could be better?!
Maren, Loved your post. I stumbled across your blog via the Jennejohns blog. It's great to read about you and your family. I've been wondering about you guys. Glad to hear your doing well and your new little guy is darling! Glad to stumble across you on the blogging circuit.
Best,
Erin Scarborough
You started dancing long before we had a basement below our house. You began at about two years old when we lived on third street while we were building the house on Diamond Springs. And you never just bounced up and down like teeny kids do. You went staright into ballet-type moves. Then on Diamond Springs, you arabesqued and twirled for at least an hour everyday.
When you were in High School, I never would have guessed how much you would like being a Mom. It was my favorite job too.
Maren, where are you? Have you blown away back there?
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