All I'm Going to Reveal About Me

Maybe there is more you want to know, but this is probably enough...

Ten Years Ago: we were still in the "warranty" year of our home in Grant Ranch, and discovering multiple construction defects, which ultimately led us to a lawsuit against the builder who was ignoring us. Our basement walls had over 200 cracks because of inadequate bracing against the expanding expansive soil. Our neighbor claimed that we actually lived on "Bentonite" Circle. That was our dream home, but it was actually more of a nightmare, and by 2001 we were totally out of there (which is why we now live behind the Hogback).

Five Things on Today's To-Do List: I should have done this yesterday because then I was organizing and paying most of our recurring bills,but: 1: Talk to the Insurance about Personal/Family Deductible and my cataract surgery charges, 2: Get serious about my Book Club reading of The Robe by Lloyd C Douglas, 3: Verify our motel reservations for Ed Week in August,. 4: Dovetail my errands to Kohls, King Soopers, the Post Office, two banks, Costco/Sams Club, and BB&B for three wedding gifts so I can save trips and gas, and 5: yuck, finish paying bills. There is always the recurring jobs of laundry, bathrooms to clean, shirts to iron, yadayadayada... so where are my hobbies? (I'm not mentioning the time I spend looking at email, internet searches, sudoku, and reading strictly for pleasure, but those things fill in the cracks...oh and I also have two projects to finish which shall remain nameless so I don't feel so guilty if I don't get them finished by my self-imposed deadline...)

Five Snacks I Enjoy, in no particular order: raw almonds, snickers bars, tortilla chips and salsa, raw veggies, Taco Bell empanadas, and evidently lots more if you look in my pantry and refrigerator...

If I suddenly became a Billionaire: I'd be a SNOWBIRD, with climate friendly homes in Colorado for the summer, Arizona for the winter, and at one or more Beach(es) for WHENEVER the mood strikes, and I'd do lots of spur-of-the-moment TRIPS to visit with FAMILY, especially my GRANDBOY. I'd TRAVEL to more PLACES with less stuff because I'd do more SHOPPING, and a lot more SIGHTSEEING, while I was there, places like NYC to see shows on BROADWAY, or to take part in FAMILY EVENTS.

Three of My Bad Habits, (wow, that's hard to limit it to only three), but here goes: 1. I spend a lot of TIME, Effort, and don't forget MONEY, to gather together all the supplies to complete craft projects (which I often never finish or even begin) 2. I am a collector who cannot rid myself of all the EVIDENCE of the addiction mentioned in #1.(After all, who knows when I may need those pipe cleaners, or rubber stamps, or paper punches, or counted cross-stitch patterns, or quilt bats, or embroidery hoops, or scrapbooking supplies, and yada yada...or the fad might come back so I might as well stay prepared with all that craft wood, right?) 3. Once I begin a reading-for-pleasure book I often, not always, but often, continue reading it until I finish it, sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. This means I either disturb my husband's restful sleep by keeping a reading light on, or I have a light on downstairs until all hours. (But I am a fast reader so usually I can finish a book in a day...so why is it that the book club books never grab me like that? I guess I am rebellious about doing an assignment.) so that was actually confessing two bad habits, so you got to see an extra one of mine...

Five PLACES I HAVE LIVED: Whitney Hall (Heritage Halls at BYU); my parents' vacation trailer the first summer after we were married, followed by house sitting for two families in Grand Junction the second summer while B and I both did summer jobs in GJ; student housing in Iowa City for the four years of dental school; a memorable Nov-August in Clifton Park, New York, followed by a memorable 4.5 months in Mesa, Arizona, which was sandwiched in between almost 25 years of various condo/townhouse/home moves in and around Lakewood and Littleton. Once again, you got more that maybe you asked for, and I didn't even mention the first eighteen years of my life when I lived in Billings, Spanish Fork (twice), Montrose, and sort of Santa Clara; I also didn't mention the forgettable apartments in Provo and Orem where we lived while still at the BYU. We have done a lot of zigs and zags, (and I keep taking those "crap" projects with us as I increase my collection) note to self: when I am the billionaire mentioned above and have all those various snowbird houses, designate the one where I plan to keep all my craft supplies...

Five JOBS I have had: 1. Babysitter for Karen two summers in a row, maybe three 2: Grass Valley Merc
3: Dental Assistant for Ron 4: Dental Assistant/Receptionist for three really crazy dentists, Dr Kibler, and two in Provo, Dr Tucker and Dr Farnsworth (who played his violin for me more than once and made me late picking up my husband who had bought me an ice cream cone and was holding it while it melted, and then threw it out the window because I cried because he was mad, and then I cried again because it landed cone up on the yellow line) 5: Day Care for two working wives of dental students. Now I am the Go-fer, which means I go for distilled water, office supplies, run deposits to the bank, deliver nitrous/oxygen tanks, pick up food orders, purchase stamps, send packages, and so forth. My cell phone has an alarm sound for the designated ring when the office calls me, because sometimes they need whatever asap. Soon I "have" to go shop for more treasure box prizes for good patients, and since it is near Park Meadows Mall, I guess I'll "have" to dovetail a longer errand of checking out Pottery Barn and some other fun stores...

Five Things People Don't Know About Me: 1. I'm always doing math problems in my head, from counting stairs as I climb them, to figuring out cost per serving, to seeing sudoku as I'm trying to fall asleep. 2. When my kids are not around sometimes I have the radio loud (I know that probably shocks you Kristen) 3. I really enjoy what I learn as I am preparing talks or lessons, although presenting them is sometimes daunting. This also gives me an excuse to gather research materials which appears to be another addiction. 4. My favorite time to rehearse a speech or presentation is when I am alone in the car. I just talk away, which maybe looks a little strange to other people on the road with me, or maybe they assume I am using hands free link, which I actually have used a time or two, but usually I'm just talking to myself. 5. I always wear small earrings because my ears are not pierced evenly, so now you will notice that won't you...

The only people who I know read this and have blogs are kristen and janet, so if anyone is a blog stalker, leave me a comment and then write about yourself on your blog so I can read about you...or write about yourself in an email and send it to me ...