"25 Random Things"

I was tagged for the "25 Random Things" note on Facebook by 7 people, so I finally decided to post my list the other day. :)  My husband (who wants nothing to do with Facebook :)) has been "suggesting" that it's been way too long between posts on my blog lately, and that I really need to remedy that.  So...I decided that for anyone who may read my blog but not be my Facebook friend, I would copy and paste my list here for a "quick and easy" blog post. :)   (I promise I am going to get to some more substantive posts soon...I have updates to the  "Daily Touch of Beauty", "One Little Word~Authentic", and Contentment posts, as well as a LONG overdue Mega Memory Month update, and a few random posts that have been percolating.  Hopefully once co-op sign-ups are over this afternoon, I'll be able to get started on that list. :))

Here's my list:

1. I married the first guy I ever really dated. He spoiled me rotten from the day we met. In those days it was flowers, candy, and/or cards *every* day. (He was the talk of my office! ;-)) Now it is bringing me a Diet Coke or chocolate, sending me out for some "mom time" when he knows I really need it, or doing the dishes for me. The things he does now are even *better* than the flowers, candy, and cards (although he still does those sometimes, too :)). He is amazing (and in answer to the question I always get, no, he has no brothers :)). 

2. We met in court. Our first date ended in the ER.

3. I have played the grand piano that sits in the Supreme Court building...*before* it was there. :) I also played the white grand that was on the cover of one of Dino's albums. When Daddy worked at the Baldwin plant in Conway, all Baldwin grand pianos were manufactured in that plant, and I occasionally got to play the "special order" pianos before they were shipped. 

4. My first *real* job was in a Chinese restaurant. I was the only non-Asian person working there, and sometimes the only one who spoke English! Quite an experience for a 16-year-old. (My first boss there was Charlie Trie, who was in the National Media spotlight a bit during the Clinton scandals.)

5. I sleep on my side. I cannot sleep on the *same* side twice in a row. If I get up in the night, I have to sleep on the side opposite to the one I woke up on. I realized this several years ago and I think it's weird, but I can NOT change it. If I have to lie on the same side twice in a row, I can't sleep. 

6. I have a shoe signed by Robert Wagner. My grandmother saw him in Hawaii. She knew I was a fan of his at the time, and asked for his autograph, but neither of them had anything to write on. My grandmother stuck her shoe up and said, "Sign this!" I still have the shoe. :)

7. I whistle, hum, or sing almost all the time. Most of the time I don't realize I am doing it. It doesn't matter what my mood is. This is genetic. Those who knew my dad well know from whom I inherited it. :) My middle daughter is the same way. When you have to ask her to stop singing, she looks at you with complete surprise...because she had no idea she was singing. :) 

8. I have been singing in church choirs in some form or fashion for 37 years. Neva Havens and Shirley McCone were my first choir teachers at FBC when I was three. I learned to sing alto at 14, sitting between Myrtle Lee Selig and Wanda Landers in the FBC adult choir. I LOVE being an alto.

9. I still love singing in choir. Adult choir rehearsal is one of my favorite times of the week. I'm having to sit out for a while right now, and it is about to kill me. :) I am SO blessed to be in a church that still sings hymns from the hymnal and still has a traditional choir. I hope that NEVER changes. (I'm blessed all around with our church, btw. We have an incredible church family, and I am so thankful for both Bro. Kent and Lyndel. Who would have thought we could spend almost 4 years in the book of John on Sunday mornings?? But God speaks to me through Bro. Kent's expository preaching every week!) 

10. One of my favorite places when I was growing up was BMA camp in Ringgold, LA. I went from the time I was 9 until I was 18 or so. Heber and Steve McKissack got us involved in Bible Memory Association when we were all at FBC, Conway, and between the verses I learned and my experiences at camp, they were probably some of the most influential people in my Christian walk during my childhood and teen years (followed closely by Bro. Roy and Mrs. Jimmie and Gilbert and Susan, and then a host of others). I wish BMA Camp still existed for my kids, but OCBC Church Camp is a close runner-up. :)

11. I am extremely competitive at games. (That is genetic, too. :-D) I am NOT a sports person, but I LOVE board games, especially strategy games. Some of my favorites: Stratego/The Generals, King Oil, Arkansas Bluff, Pit, Scrabble, Nerts, and Axis and Allies. 

12. My first car was a 1973 Karmann Ghia, candy apple red, in mint condition. When I was a little girl, my grandparents had a Ghia that they had bought new for my aunt in 1959. Theirs was two-tone...green with a white hardtop. I loved riding around town it it with Papaw Brown, singing silly songs and hearing his wonderful stories. I had wanted one for as long as I could remember. 

13. Yet another thing I inherited from my dad...I have an incredibly weak stomach. I'm a total wuss. I don't do needles, blood, or anything else that could *remotely* be classified as *gross*. This is why God allowed me to marry a man who used to eat lunch while watching GI/abdominal surgeries!! He is my Knight in Shining Armor who handles all the icky stuff and holds my hand when I have to have blood drawn. :-)

14. I once nailed a board to my own foot. In deference to my friends who are as weak-stomached as I, I won't tell the story here. 

15. I narrowly missed a chance to fly from Fort Smith to Little Rock by helicopter. When my water broke at 30 weeks with Ammah Grace, the helicopters were grounded due to ice/snow, so I ended up being transported from St. Edward's in Fort Smith to UAMS in Little Rock by ambulance in the middle of the night in a snowstorm. I had a fabulous ambulance crew who were Christians and who prayed for me all the way there. They were a bit put out because the trip messed up their speed average from SEMMC to UAMS. Their average was just over an hour and a half; it took us like an hour and 50 minutes due to hitting ice at Russellville. Eek. I was so concerned about the premature labor that I never thought to be scared of the crazy ride.

16. I am gephyrophobic. I hate bridges. When I first started driving, I had a very hard time driving over bridges at all. Now I'm fine unless it is an unfamiliar bridge or one of those little country one-lane bridges...ugh! I'm pretty sure my phobia stems from watching news coverage of a barge hitting the Lake Pontchartrain bridge 1974, not long after we had been on the bridge while in New Orleans. 

17. I've mentioned several things I inherited from my dad; I guess I should mention some things I inherited from my mom, as well: My love of pens, paper, and notebooks. My fear of spiders. A love of little yellow wildflowers. :-) 

18. I got my first gray hair when I was 17. When I was 30 I had more gray than my then-87-year-old grandfather!

19. I am amazed and delighted by my children every day. How incredibly blessed I am to be able to be a homeschooling mom to them!

20. Speaking of homeschooling...no list about me would be complete without something about homeschooling! We started homeschooling when I was a junior in high school, and I LOVED it and knew then I wanted to homeschool my children someday. My first "homeschool field trip" was to the 1985 Special Legislative Session in Little Rock that *legalized* homeschooling in Arkansas. Little did I know then that Billy and I would spend four years as Activities Directors for our homeschool group, scheduling field trips! 

21. I have the most wonderful friends in the entire world. God has blessed me with wonderful friends ever from Susan O. and Julianne M. from the age of 3 :), to Jodie, Kathy, and Tauna now, and many others in between. I don't know how I would have made it through the past few years without friends who have helped bear our burdens in so many ways...and made me laugh until my sides hurt all the way through!

22. I am a published scrapbooker. :) I had a page titled "Most Thankful" published in the November 2002 Creating Keepsakes magazine. (I thought I had the story on my blog, but apparently I don't. It was a page about my dad losing his sight for a year and a half, and finally having his vision restored...maybe I'll blog about it soon.) I haven't submitted in years, but keep saying I'm going to start again. One of these days...:)

23. When I was in college, living at home, a man was shot in our front yard, a few feet away from my bedroom window. He had burglarized a convenience store (it was closed due to an ice storm), and was considered extremely dangerous...and he was trying to get into our house. :-O Kathy W. happened to be spending the night that night and got to share in the excitement. :)

24. I was a Razorback fan before I was born! My dad called the Hogs from the balcony of our apartment in downtown Birmingham the day I was born. (The Hogs were playing in a bowl game that weekend.) I care very little for sports *other* than the Hogs...except that I have become a Tim Tebow fan in recent years. :) It was a sign of my dad's great regard for Billy that he was thrilled for me to marry him *despite* the fact that he was/is a Tennessee Vol fan!

25. I have experienced my greatest fear in the world coming true. That was a horrible thing, but God has shown Himself...His goodness, His love, His faithfulness, His Sovereignty, Glory, and Holiness...in ways I could never have imagined through it. We serve an awesome God and I am thankful that He has held me in the palm of His hand throughout it all.

Ack! Had to edit because I left out one of the people who tagged me...I knew there was someone else! :) I guess I should add another random thing, too, so my "things" equal my "people". ;-) 

26. I love political science. I minored in Poli Sci, because I couldn't figure out what I would do with a *major* in Poli Sci...so I majored in Psychology instead, because Psych is such a *useful* and *marketable* degree. Ha!!