100 Things
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| Nothing But Love 100 Things |
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2. i'll have been married 29 years this june. so, yeah, i was 19 when i married. i still like him an awful lot. bill is the smartest person i know. yes, you know who you are (the ones that think you're smarter than him), and he IS smarter than you. i'd rather spend a day with him than anyone. although he is kind of doofy. he knows it. and is comfortable with it. this is the thing that makes me crazy. 3. i didn't finish college. don't care. don't think it makes you smarter than me. 4. my immediate family consists of husband, bill, two sons (17 and 21), semi son (22), and two dogs (12 and 6). i think we're just perfect. i know a lot of people think i'm nuts for thinking that cuz we're so imperfect. too damned bad. 5. i have three sisters who are the coolest three women i know. we grew up crazy and devoted to each other. i think EVERYDAY how lucky i, my husband, and boys are to have them in our lives. 6. i've been "back to work" for three years now. i stayed home (evidently, NOT working) for 19 years. i knew this before, but now i'll say it here: work outside the home is overrated and trivial. if you think you have to get a job because you think your brain will turn to mush, then, sorry, it's too late. you're already stupid. your problem. not mine. 7. the day before my 40th birthday, i had my first mri and was diagnosed with ms. over the course of the next year, my left side became dumber and dumber. so, i use a cane (for balance) and type one handed (this is why i don't use caps appropriately). big deal. the docs don't think the ms will progress with me cuz i've had only the one "attack" in all this time. so we like to call it ms-like. 8. i have an opinion about nearly EVERYTHING. drives my kids crazy. 9. i'm against war in iraq. i'm against saddam hussein. i'm against people throwing paint or anything else at people who don't agree with them. i'm also aware that i'm in the minority about the war, so i feel, duh, it's going to happen. i pray that we'll do it right (whatever the fuck that means). 10. i swear way too much. people are always shocked when they hear come it out of my mouth. people are always shocked that i'm not shocked when my kids swear in front of me. 11. i am a HUGE who / pete townshend fan. shut up. 12. we saw THE WHO last at tinley park in chicago last summer. all of us (except matt) were able to go. since matt couldn't get away to chicago, we called him on the cell when baba o'reilly started; and he was able to listen from pennsylvania. that is a cool WHO memory. 13. another one is walking into the jackal's room when he was about 8 or 9 and hearing him sing: I call you on the telephone my voice too rough with cigarettes. I sometimes think I should just go home but I'm dealing with a memory that never forgets I love to hear you say my name especially when you say yes i got your body right now on my mind, but i drunk myself blind to the sound of old t-rex, the sound of old t-rex. 14. another one is bill telling me (we were maybe 17 and 18) that scott urban did a really GREAT roger daltrey scream when "won't get fooled again" came on the radio when they (bill, scott, skip, ralph, and mike) would drive to baseball practice. i like to remember that car full of REALLY cute guys zipping to baseball practice and singing with the radio. 15. if bill doesn't get us in to house of blues to see the who / p.t. BEFORE I GET OLD, um... well... i got nothin. 16. ok. i'm done with the who / p.t. stuff. shut up. 17. oh. wait. one more. i have a who bumper sticker on my white beetle. shut up. 18. i am a GREAT cook. even if i do say so myself. i wish i had thought of going to culinary school when i had two good hands. boo fucking hoo. sorry. but i am a GREAT cook. 19. i had two miscarriages (between matt and jackson). my main regret about babies is that we tried to be so damned responsible and waited 6 years to get pregnant. i wish i would have started having them when we were like 21/22 and never stopped until we had about 6. i think 8 of us (9 with mark!) would have been really, REALLY cool. scary. but cool. 20. i've got special plans for my grandchildren. they are secret plans so as not to frighten the seed bearers (my sons). mwah ha ha ha ha. 21. i think french toast is the most perfect food. 22. i have two "full" sisters, one half sister, 2 step sisters, 2 half brothers, and 1 step brother. i think that's right. not completely sure, but i THINK it is. 23. i learned shorthand after i graduated from high school. shorthand RUINED my handwriting (such as it was anyway). i take notes in a horrible combination of script and shorthand. 24. if "groundhog day" comes on tv, i can't NOT watch it. 25. the first screen saver that i put on a computer was the text message: "my name is inigo montoya. you killed my father. prepare to die." 26. we always wanted to name our first girl child "scout." matt's still mad we didn't name him that. 27. i love rubber stamps. i rarely do any rubber stamping, but i've probably collected several hundred. 28. i'm still friends with one of my best friends from fifth grade. she ROCKS! one of my best memories of her is us just laughing and giggling for hours as we read shakespeare's "romeo and juliet" into a little tape recorder. WE thought it was a riot. we were really dorks. 29. other than backyard "camping" (tv and all), i've spent exactly two nights out of doors in my entire life. once in near-zero temperatures one cold november in a corn field in ada, ohio. once in the desert in southern utah. now i can say, "been there. done that." 30. my dogs both have nicknames from characters in "anna karenina." 31. i'd like to learn italian. other than the swear words that come back to me when i watch "the soprano's." 32. i'm in a book club that rarely reads the same book during the month. we try to, but usually, we just get together to eat, talk about our husbands and kids, and give each other book recommendations. this month we're supposed to be reading "the red tent," but i read that last year, one of the girls read it last month, and i'm not sure about the rest. maybe we'll talk about it. maybe not. we're all ok with that. 33. i'm half italian, half irish. my mom loved italian men. her second husband's name was joseph. i always thought it was a crack-up in elementary school and junior high to fill out the form with parents' names, and i'd write "mary and joseph." you'd have to know my family to see why that's so funny. 34. Illya Kuryakin. definitely. 35. i don’t have any tattoos. bill has one. jax has two. matt has three. mark has ... two. fooled you, huh? you thought i was gonna say four, dincha? 36. jesus christ, this is hard! 37. i’m counting that last one! and this one, too! 38. wow. 38. i’m rolling now. i don’t think it’s correct to spell stacey like this: stacy, stacie, staci. especially not staci where the i is a cute little circle or a heart. 39. i didn’t meet another stacey until i was 14. it was a boy. back then – in the olden days – stacey was a male name. it was cool back then to be a girl named stacey. now it sounds like i’m just an old chick with a little girl’s name. AND NOBODY CAN SPELL IT! 40. everytime the teacher in the cafeteria in high school said “stay seated!” over the loud speaker, i jumped. cuz i thought he was yelling “STACEY!” 41. i played french horn, flute, and a little guitar back in the day. sometimes now i fool around with a recorder (DON'T’CALL IT A FLUTOPHONE!). i’m not very good at it anymore, but i try. and it’s fun. i really would like to collect recorders, but my family is really NOT cooperating. ESPECIALLY my little sis: she borrowed my beautiful blond-wood alto recorder and lost it in her divorce move! she kind of redeemed herself by buying me a new (not an alto) wooden recorder for christmas. 42. the only kind of organized school sports girls played back in my day were intramural sports. bummer. yay title IX! the girl’s athletic association was a bunch of girls who didn’t make cheerleader cheering the boys on. silly. 43. if you want to torture me, make me watch golf. on tv. wtf is that all about??? 44. if i want to torture jax, i make him watch a cooking show or “trading spaces.” 45. i prefer bbc’s “changing rooms” over tlc’s “trading spaces.” not cuz i’m a snob. it’s only 30 minutes. t.s. is an hour. 46. i prefer bbc’s “what not to wear” over ... those two women hosts are a hoot. i don’t like the tlc hosts. it’s a visceral thing. 47. i like to say “it’s a visceral thing.” then you don’t have to explain. you can’t. it just is what it is. 48. i like to say “it is what it is.” 49. i like the word “ennui.” except now i can never say it without thinking of boz. 50. i always liked the word “serendipity,” but then it got too popular. 51. i love “dr. phil.” shut up. you just don’t understand. 52. it took me a loooooong time to think of that number 51. but i wanted to be more than halfway to 100. so now i’m at 52. i could have just made THIS one 51 and have been more than half done. consider yourself lucky. or not. 53. we’ve had to put two dogs to sleep this year (2003). now we’re down to one dog. i’d like to say that we’ll never have to do this again, but it’s part of being a dog owner / lover. doesn’t make it ANY easier knowing this going in. 54. my youngest child is a recovering drug addict. if that turns you off or makes you go tsk, tsk, you’re at the wrong site, baby. get the fuck out of here. 55. i said before that i hope we do the war in iraq “right,” but i don’t think we have. so far. 56. i think george w. is an idiot. and he may be evil, i haven’t decided what i believe about that. i think donald rumsfeld and dick cheney are evil. even if gw is only an idiot, we’re fucked. this war MAY go on as long as the war in ireland has. 57. i’m not talking about the war anymore. today. 58. i don’t have a passport. 59. i HAVE been to canada and the bahama’s (you don’t need a passport). WOOHOO! except i got so sunburned the day before going to nassau that i couldn’t go outside until after dark the entire trip. 60. i used to get sunburned a lot. now i’m pretty careful. but i worry about the affects of all those years of abuse. 61. i’m in a bad mood today (starting at #53). can you tell? kathy says cranky works for me. 62. because of my ms-like thingy, at least twice a week, i “hit the wall” and have to go home and go to bed pretty much right away. it’s a pain in the ass. and it’s still hard for me to not feel guilty about it. i think today might be one of those days. 63. i can’t see shit without my glasses. and contacts are out of the question cuz i’m cross-eyed (not so you can see it) and need a prism in the lens. cross (i originally typed close -- i crack me up sometimes) your eyes and try to focus on something. you can’t. 64. can you tell i’m in a “cranky” place today? blame it on peri-menopause. it’s the hormones! or lack thereof. that’s my story, and i’m sticking to it. 65. i LOVE starbucks mochas. bad habit. 66. i’d like to write really eloquently and movingly about embracing your kids as they are. i don’t mean that you should just accept the fact that he or she may be a drug addict, and say “oh well.” i mean love them if they’re square pegs, and do NOT give up on them. do NOT. that means you might have to get off your ass. and make your kids your first priority. and quit saying, “i DID that,” or “i DO that.” i’ve sat in too many intensive outpatient treatment group therapy sessions where the parents mantra is “i’ve done EVERYTHING,” when the next words out of their mouths are, “my insurance doesn’t cover that” or “i don’t have time for that.” all i’m saying is there’s a LOT you can do, but maybe not a lot that you do do.” i’m just babbling here. i’m in a bad mood. 67. i guess that a big part of what i WANTED to say in #66 was education related. if you have a square peg (learning-wise), you must be his or her advocate in school. you must. cuz if you don’t, the school system will just keep trying to shove that square peg into a round hole (and chipping off big chunks of him or her in the process). teachers and administrators aren’t gods. they may THINK they are because they have so much power, but they are not. save your kid. teach him or her yourself if you must. because you must. 68. i was baptized a catholic, made my first holy communion, went to catholic school off and on for a while, was confirmed in the one, holy, apostolic church; but the day before easter when i was 13, when my little sis and i went to confession, the priest told my sweet, i-want-to-be-a-nun sister that he would not grant her absolution because our parents were divorced and therefore sinners. i was next in line. i walked out of the church with her. now i don't let mortals get between me and MY god. my god is loving, forgiving, kind, good. that doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t ask a lot from me that i TRY to give. 69. i’m gonna say what i’ve said before regarding that last one. it’s called “FAITH.” 70. i’m done here today. i’m in a bad mood. latah. 71. i have to go to the bathroom. brb. 72. the bathroom is waaay down the hall in my building. it's just wrong. 73. there are at LEAST four computers in my house turned on at all times. networked. all on line. and not that pussy kind of wireless networking shit. the real deal. wiring everywhere. and when the big guys come home, there are more. 74. my dog (down to ONE dog in the house right now -- must correct that soon) won't let me lay on the pool float alone. she watches and waits until it bumps into the side and walks on it to be with me. right when i'm getting ready to doze off. scares the shit out of me. 75. this same dog, sheba, watches tv. she gets all agitated when she sees other dogs, but i'm not sure -- i think she thinks COWS are just really big dogs. so she just watches any kind of animal. 76. bill reminded me of this in his 100 things: on our first married night, we spent the night in a holiday inn in lima, ohio. bill went out and got us burger chef for dinner. he thinks that shows how crazy HE is, but i think it shows how crazy I am for allowing this. AND, it's not like we flew out the next morning for fucking cancun or something. we went right to our apartment in ada, ohio, and spent the week. the highlight: bill got to play baseball all week on the local team. i mean, we couldn't go anywhere where he couldn't fucking play baseball, NOW COULD WE??? 77. i'm not bitter. really. 78. i mean we were 19 and 20. WHO KNEW that we'd grow up someday? umm. i mean I'D grow up. 79. but i'm really not bitter. i like him an awful lot still. 80. further proof that I'M the one who's ca-razy. 81. i believe that happiness is not something that just happens or is bestowed upon you. i believe that it's a choice. and hard work. very hard sometimes. 82. i believe that there are things in everyone's life that are gifts: births, marriages, loves, chances, addictions, illnesses, change. and that you can't fucking miss them. recognize them, learn from them if they're presented as challenges, and appreciate them. if you don't, the gods will stop throwing them at you. 83. i believe in angels. living and otherwise. i've met a couple of them here. 84. i think i'm somebody you can trust. with your heart. to be honest. to try to figure out what the right thing is and try to do it. 85. i'm kind of shy with people IN PERSON when they first meet me. it bugs the shit out of me. |