i'm baaaack

After the longest hiatus in my blogging career, I'm back. I'm not sure why I fell off the wagon. Probably because FB exists. And because I was finally done with documenting both of the kids' first years. I guess I just needed a break. But all the while, I'd keep thinking "I should post about this" or "I can't believe I haven't blogged about ANY house project." So get ready, peeps. There may be a house tour coming up.

What got me back here? There's this thing going around FB where people give you a random number (not one but two people gave me 9--perhaps it's not as random as it seems) and you post that many facts about yourself that people may not know. It's been surprisingly interesting. I secretly like it when I knew one (or more) of the things someone posted. I'm posting here instead of there because all the stuff that's rattling around in my head seems lengthy. So here goes.

1) I've been writing in a journal of some sort off and on since elementary school. And always in the not-so-back of my mind, I've done it in part for my future children. Even when I was a child myself. I pictured me seeing my kid going through something and me just handing them one of my journal entries about the same situation (because you know you never believe your parent when they say they understand what you're going through). I also pictured my adult children reading through the story of my life after it was over.

2) I don't really care for getting manicures. And the best part about pedicures is the massage chair and the socializing with girlfriends. Other than that, I could take 'em or leave 'em. But I've probably had my toenails painted everyday for the last 20 years.

3) I used to have a freaky good memory. Baby brain has ruined that. Now I'm a mere mortal.

4) I've been on several blind dates. The worst one ended with me wandering around an automobile graveyard after my car got towed. In the rain. At night. Alone. Thinking I was probably going to get killed by an axe murderer.

5) I didn't leave the state until I was 17. Didn't fly until right before I turned 21.

6) The day that changed me the most was January 24, 2011. Followed by January 9, 1997. What is it about January?

7) I don't get the chance to read as much now as I'd like. But when I'm engrossed in a book, I start thinking like a book. I'll be walking around the house and in my head I'm narrating, "And she walked into the kitchen and saw the mountain of dishes in the sink."

8) I'm embarrassed by very little these days. I think having babies does that to you.

9) I would have loved to have inherited a family business in some creative area. Someone else could have done all the work to start it up but I could do fun, creative things.