Twenty-five random things about me

As posted on Facebook

25 Random Things About Me

1. I ignored this note thing until Minda harassed (okay, gently prodded) me about it!

2. I love staying at home with Baby J and would like to be able to do it all the time and never go back to work, but part of me is actually looking forward to going back to work...I may not feel the same way in September, but we'll see.

3. I have a serious book addiction. I have put myself on a book diet which means I am not allowed to buy books for myself unless someone gives me a gift card to the bookstore. I've been borrowing books from my aunt and uncle's collection instead. I tried to pare down my collection when we unpacked this time, but I only managed to find three books I could bear to part with.

4. I have a love-hate relationship with our new place. I'm hoping the hate part will go away once we paint and maybe get a couple of pieces of new furniture...

5. The smiles I get first thing in the morning from Baby J make getting out of bed worth it and bearable...even when she decides to wake up before 6:00 am.

6. I only lived in London for just over 1.5 years total. I've lived in Vancouver for 10+ of the last 13 years. London feels more like a second home than Vancouver. I still feel a bit transient in Vancouver. I have good friends and family in Vancouver, but I feel like many of the special people in my life are scattered around the world...probably because of the time I spent living in Hawaii, London and Switzerland!

7. When I'm working, I only get to see Alex for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half everyday - it's hard and we try to make up for it on weekends. That's part of the reason I'm enjoying maternity leave so much - now I get to see him for four or five hours a day and we even get to eat together!

8. I love going to bed early and getting up early, but I also like staying up late and sleeping in. I need 8-9 hours of sleep to function...unfortunately it usually works out that on the days I stay up late, I need to get up early. Not so good for the sleep quota.

9. I worked in an industry that required talent and skills that I know I don't possess. Thank goodness I was in administration not production, because I have those skills. When I told people where I worked, the looks of disbelief I got from the people who knew me were great. The looks of relief when they heard I was in administration were even better! They made me smile every time!

10. I have an irrational fear of birds. All birds. Alive birds, dead birds, stuffed birds, photographs of birds in books.

11. When I was a kid I thought there was a monster/bad guy/bird living under my bed. I'd turn the light off and take a running leap from the door to my bed so the monster/bad guy/bird couldn't grab my ankle. Good thing my bedroom was tiny.

12. We shared the Blue House with at least two ghosts.

13. I learned more about the Bible from my AP Lit class than I did from Sunday School.

14. When I was in high school, I used to go camping at least once a month. I miss it and I'm trying to convince Alex that camping is fun.

15. I don't like condiments, but our fridge is full of them because I married a condiment fiend.

16. I love that my family is large and that we enjoy spending time together.

17. I had my first migraine when I was ten or eleven. At the worst, they were coming every seven to ten days. My usual trigger is abrupt changes in barometric pressure or altitude. Sometimes lack of sleep, too much sleep, dehydration or food can also trigger them. They have varied in severity and frequency since I started getting them. One of the best side effects of being pregnant was the complete absence of migraines, even when the Vancouver weather was crazy!

18. When I was admitted to the hospital three weeks early to have Baby J, our coworkers knew, but we didn't tell our families until she had arrived safely.

19. I'm a pack rat. Really and truly a pack rat. It's mostly organized, but I know I don't need all that stuff. I'm trying to be more ruthless at getting rid of stuff. It's working better in some areas of my life than others (see #3 above and #20 below).

20. I also have an addiction to stationery and all things related to it. I have three drawers and a bread box full of stationery. I have more pens than I could possibly ever use. But certain types of paper demand certain types of pens. Too bad we're no longer a society that uses the postal service much. I'm kind of on a stationery diet too, but it's not working so well.

21. I have a big postcard collection that started when I was seven.

22. When I was at boarding school I got so much mail that they were surprised at the bookstore when there was nothing for me to pick up from my mailbox. Even when I lived in London I got lots of mail. Not so much now...but that's okay!

23. Maybe my addiction is to all things paper - books, stationery, postcards, letters? Hmmmm...

24. I love having an empty laundry basket but I hate doing laundry, in particular the folding, hanging and putting away part. I never iron, but when I lived in London, I found ironing sheets to be very relaxing and a good time to think!

25. Everyday I look at Alex and Baby J and I can't believe they're my family or how happy they make me! I think I'm pretty lucky to have both of them!

Rainy Saturday Girls' Night

Last night Stacey hosted a small get together fora few of her wonderful female friends (we had to convince Warren he had to leave). We tasted nine drinks and chose the best two for an upcoming party...

Don't worry, none of us drank nine drinks! Stacey very kindly gave us about half a shot glass of each drink so we wouldn't be hurting...


A great way to get a taster, especially good when the drinks were less than spectacular...as you'll see from my score sheet at least one tasted HORRIBLE! (click the picture for a larger, clearer image)


We rounded out the evening with ice cream sundaes and Failure to Launch...definitely a good chick flick! Too bad they didn't warn me about the scene with the bird...I had to hide...

Birds...birds are everywhere

anyone who knows me probably knows that I have completely irrational fear of birds (yes, that's a phobia)...all birds...dead birds, alive birds, wild birds, caged birds...I hate walking through the bird habitats at zoos (I don't like zoos much either, but that is a different story), the only time I don't mind birds is when they are far away, over there, not close to me or behind glass (or on tv, but in some obscure way, in my brain that counts as behind glass).

So...this morning my heart was beating like mad, my mouth was dry and my palms were clammy by the time I got safely to the office door because our parking lot has been TAKEN OVER BY CROWS. There were 30-40 crows congregated in the parking lot and on the path to the office. They were squawking and fighting and generally being disruptive and I couldn't help but think, "Is there something dead over there?" There were only about 5 crows when I left on Friday....They aren't that prolific are they? And baby crows take more than a weekend to grow up, right?

Thankfully a Plant Ops van drove past in front of me and they scattered, but they were loud, they were way too close and I was convinced they were going to dive bomb me. I've been dive bombed by a crow before and it was SCARY!

And now I'm scared to go get lunch. I can't see if they are still there.

And no, the phobia has nothing to do with Hitchcock's The Birds. NOTHING....I didn't see that until I was in my 20s and I had already been ornithophobic for 20+ years...

I'm hungry...

see...I told you I was pathetic!