Post #100

In the great tradition of bloggers everywhere, here's a list of 100 things you may or may not know about me.

1. I think seven layer bean dip tastes wrong when it's missing 2 of the layers.
2. I don't get PMS before my period, I get it during.
3. I used to eat ketchup sandwiches when I was young and lived at home.
4. I have 3 kids.
5. I have an Etsy store with nothing in it.
6. Overall, I would prefer to laugh than to cry.
7. I get uncomfortable when things get too serious.
8. But when push comes to shove, I am capable of holding my own.
9. Valerie means 'Strong' or 'Strength' - and I am.
10. I share a birthday with one of my sisters, just 2 years apart.
11. I have a lot of hobbies.
12. Reading is my most often practiced.
13. I am the 2nd of 4 children.
14. I married an introvert.
15. I am an extrovert.
16. I love my kids and get very mama-bearish when I feel someone's attacking them.
17. My secret ambition is to be a photographer.
18. But not until my kids are all in school and I can do it on my own terms.
19. I'm a big believer in being a SAHM.
20. I love family traditions.
21. I think anything done for one child should be done for all of them.
22. For each of my kids I do a cross-stitch birth announcement.
23. And a twin-sized quilt.
24. And I write a letter to them on their birthday. They'll get them all when they're older.
25. I am not a salesperson.
26. I am witty, some of the time.
27. I once won a trip to the '96 Atlanta Summer Olympics and gave it away.
28. My dad missed my HS graduation because he was in Nicaragua.
29. I found a puppy in the parking lot at the mall and brought it home.
30. My parents still have her.
31. I don't watch the news because it makes me upset.
32. Of course, I never know what's going on.
33. Mexican food is the best in the world.
34. Red Robin is probably my favorite non-Mexican restaurant.
35. I cook better than a lot of people.
36. But I have a hard time coming up with dinner ideas.
37. I love asparagus.
38. I am not as up on current music and artists as I once was.
39. I don't have a cell phone.
40. I have another blog about weight loss.
41. I have lost 12 lbs in 2 weeks.
42. I like cake decorating.
43. Sometimes I come up with really cool craft project ideas.
44. I had my last baby without any anesthetic.
45. It hurt, but in retrospect it was kind of cool.
46. We're done having children, but if I lose all the weight I want, I would consider being a surrogate (just my oven).
47. My feet grew 1/2 size since I've had my kids.
48. I like to play games: boardgames, cardgames, dice games.
49. I am one year shy of completing my bachelors degree.
50. I am more than one year shy of completing it in something I'm interested in.
51. I'm a Republican.
52. I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
53. My patriarchal blessing makes me sound awesome to myself.
54. I love to go to the temple.
55. I don't go as often as I would like.
56. I have really cool friends.
57. You can tell who your best friends are by those that can tell something is wrong when you don't say anything about it, and they let you know they are there for you if you ever need them.
58. I clean out my closet a couple of times a year.
59. I like to can things, but I don't always remember to feed my family what I've canned.
60. We have our year's supply.
61. I like poetry.
62. I got an A in college in Exposition and Argumentation. That's 'Debate'.
63. I would like to travel to lots of different places in the world.
64. I had a miscarriage between my 2nd and 3rd children.
65. At 30 I finally gave someone a Book of Mormon.
66. I'm mellowing as I grow older, and my husband is not.
67. My favorite calling I have had so far was Activities Committee Chair.
68. My calling right now is teaching 3rd Sunday in RS.
69. I have been in the nursery in every ward we've ever lived in.
70. I am punctual.
71. I like cookies. But I can no longer eat them.
72. I've never ridden in a limo.
73. I went to 2 Senior Proms in one weekend when I was a senior in HS.
74. I like to stop at the Duty Free Shop. I like to stop at the Duty Free Shop. I like to stop at the Duty Free Shop.
75. And I like Seinfeld.
76. I prefer a long bath to a long shower to relax. You can't read in the shower.
77. I like to watch football and hockey but not baseball or basketball.
78. I want to learn to be a crack shot.
79. I think my kids are hilarious.
80. I love my children, and I tolerate everyone else's.
81. I frequently identify people with what animal they look like, and then tend to refer to them as that animal in conversation.
82. I lose all tact when I'm pregnant.
83. I try to avoid conflict, to avoid offending others, but sometimes it happens anyway.
84. I'm a big believer in slow to anger, quick to apologize.
85. The longer I live without pets the less I would like to have one in the future.
86. I like nursery rhymes and take great pleasure in memorizing them and being able to recite them to my kids.
87. Same with children's songs and the nonsense songs my dad taught us.
88. And tongue twisters.
89. I got married at 20.
90. I have great inlaws - mom, dad, brothers & sisters, nieces & nephews. All of them.
91. I tend to romanticize things.
92. I suck at estimating.
93. I love dating my husband.
94. There are certain books that I re-read every so often. Like Little Women and all of Jane Austen.
95. I make awesome cookies.
96. I love nursing Aile. Not so much at 2 am.
97. I was extremely gullible as a child and teenager. I'm hopeful that I've outgrown it a little.
98. I still know the theme song to The Safety Kids.
99. I'm a fair-weather camper.
100. I'm trying to become more adventurous in my old age.