January 29, 2020

11 Facts About Me (writing prompt)

I'm going to do a writing prompt today, because I really don't have much to write about. I have a list of prompts to help me so that I can keep a streak of writing a post every single day this year. I'm pretty impressed with myself so far--I haven't missed a day yet!

Today's prompt is "11 Facts About Me"-- (the original, from the journal/book I got the prompts from, said "30 Facts About Me". With how much I write, can you even imagine how long that post would be?!

Here goes...

1. I was born just after the Super Bowl game in 1982. My mom was in labor all through the Super Bowl that Sunday, and I finally made my appearance just after 2:06 AM. As you can imagine, my dad was thrilled to miss the big game, haha. Coincidentally, the game was actually being played in Michigan that year, just outside of Detroit! So, it was a pretty big deal in the Detroit suburbs where I grew up. I despise football, so maybe being born that day was a curse ;)



2. I have huge calves that barely changed size when I lost all the weight. When I was losing the weight, I always imagined wearing cute boots over skinny jeans. I was pretty bummed when I lost inches everywhere else! I lost a little in my calves, but percentage wise, that was where I lost the least. You can see in the photo below (at my thinnest) my calves are nearly as big as my thighs!



3. I'm not one that dreams of winning the lottery. I honestly feel like winning a huge sum of money would ruin so many things... People coming out of the woodwork who claim to be friends or family; everyone expecting you to pay for everything; never trusting that anyone is genuine when wanting to be your friend after that, and always questioning their motives; and I can't really think of anything that I am desperate to buy.

If I was to win an ungodly amount of money, I'd want to spend it everyone else--a new boat for my dad, a nice car for my mom, pretty much anything my siblings would want, an amazing truck for Jerry, set up the kids to have whatever future they'd like... but there really isn't anything that I can think of that I would dream of having. Maybe property for an amazing cat sanctuary?



4. The only food I've ever tasted that I can say that I truly despise is yogurt. I love to try new foods--and I'll try anything, over and over--but I've never been able to get on board with yogurt. Still, I try it about once a year to see if maybe things have changed.

Now, FROZEN yogurt, on the other hand... well. (There actually is fro-yo under those toppings, really)



5. I feel like I should have been born in the 60's (spending my teen years in the mid-70's). I love so much about that era--especially the clothing! Any time I watch a show or movie that takes place during that time period, I feel like I was meant to have been growing up through it.

6. I have three siblings--Jeanie, 45; Brian, 43; and Nathan, 35. I loved growing up with siblings! A family of six isn't huge, but it was bigger than most of my friends' families. I kind of wish I'd had a couple more kids of my own so they would experience the same things I did growing up. Jeanie and Brian were older than me by quite a bit, but I thought they were SO cool. Nathan and I fought, being only two years apart, but in general, we were good to each other. As adults, I'm so grateful to have siblings that I love!



7. I lived in one house from the time I was born until I was 15; then, the summer before my sophomore year of high school, we moved about 20 minutes away into a new school district. I was super worried about changing schools--already, I didn't have many friends and I was made fun of because of my weight, so I imagined all sorts of horrible things about trying to make new friends (being a shy introvert).

It was the best thing that could have happened to me, though! I made a really close-knit group of friends who were SO nice and fun and welcoming. I've mentioned them several times--the self-proclaimed "Kindred Klan", because five of them had a band called Kindred. I'm still friends with them, and they made high school so much better for me.

8. Most people know this already, but it's been over nine years now since it happened... in 2010, I was at home with the kids while Jerry was working, and we were watching Wall-E. Noah fell asleep, so I picked him up and carried him to his bunk bed. I put him up on the top, and then I felt super nauseous.

I started heading toward the bathroom, and then I got tunnel vision. The next thing I knew, I was waking up facedown on the floor with a puddle of blood under my face. I had fainted and broken my jaw completely through in five places; two of the bone fragments had even punctured through my lower lip and under my chin. I wrote about the whole ordeal, which you can read here.



9. I've always wanted to be a foster parent. Jerry and I have talked about it several times, and he'd love it, also. We've just never got the ball rolling. I always think that because we don't have a huge house or because I have bipolar or something like that, we won't be able to. But I read all these horror stories about foster families abusing kids, and I just don't understand how they were ever able to get licensed. I desperately want to show a child in a bad situation what it feels like to be loved and cared about. I keep saying, "Someday, maybe...".

10. I was a very creative kid, and my parents were great about helping me play into whatever phase I was interested in at the moment. I went through a phase where I played "teacher", and my parents (well, likely my mom! My dad worked at his auto shop a lot) hung two large chalkboards on the wall and set up a couple of desks. She took me to the "teachers' store" (where teachers bought their supplies) and bought me some of the cool things that my teachers used (attendance book, a chalk holder that drew horizontal lines on the board, a sliding grading chart, the teachers' edition of a school book, etc.).

When I went through a "cashier" phase, I would set a broom across two chairs to make a clothing rack, and I'd pull clothes and shoes out of the closets to "sell" in my store. My mom bought me a real cash register--not a toy, but the real thing! It was so cool. She also gave me a credit card swiper (remember those ones that needed carbon paper?) and she'd bring home the carbon paper from work. I think it's because of this that I like to do the same for my kids. When they were little, I would try to get creative with helping them play out their imaginations.

In the photo below, you can see a board my dad made for me with random gadgets (door knocker, walkie talkie, wheel to spin, etc) to play with in the garage. I love how creative he got! He recently made one for Luke, too :)



11. Lucky number 11! I have an obsession with the number 11 for some reason. I'm not sure when it started, but it wasn't until 15 years or so ago. I really like multiples of 11 as well, particularly 33, 55, and 77.

When I would run races, I would always be curious if there was an 11 in my bib number, or at least a multiple. On Leap Day 2016, I actually got number 44--which I thought was lucky, because I was running the "Leap Year 4-Miler" (which obviously only occurs once every 4 years). I did it in 2012, and then 2016, but I'm so sad that they aren't doing it this year! I wanted it to be one that I did every Leap Day. Anyway, the whole point of this final fact about me is that I love the number 11. I'm a "numbers person" (a.k.a. nerd) in general.




So, there you have it--11 Facts About Me. I tried to make them things that I don't write about much (if ever). I've written a LOT of blog posts (2,346) in the last nine years, so there isn't much I haven't said ;) I always love learning random facts about people. Everybody has something interesting to say!


3 comments:

  1. About number 5: I was 15 years old in 1975. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT WAS AWESOME! I loved being a teen in the 70's!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's so cool! I am glad you can attest to what a fun era it was ;)

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  2. Questions about the broken jaw (ouch!): 1) Did the doctors ever figure out what caused you to faint? 2) Did you fall on a hard surface (not carpeting)? I'm so sorry that happened to you! What an ordeal. You look great so the doctors obviously knew what they were doing :)

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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