25 Random Things…. Ala Jules

1. I like to do things with purpose, with my undivided attention and without feeling rushed, to the point I’ll put it off until I feel that I can. Letters, phone calls (and yes, even something as silly as this….) Simply put, I give my undivided focus. And I can also be rather detail minded when I write…..

2. I will take someone seriously first before I finally go – ok, they’re joking. I could never tell when my father was joking when I was a kid. And it didn’t go so well for me once. And sometimes, I can’t read between the lines.

3. I’m a crochet geek.  I love Doctor Who and Calvin and Hobbes. I have a love/hate relationship with spiders.  I love *good* Rock ‘n Roll. I love to dance. And I miss dancing, games of spades and hearts, riding my motorcycle and most of all: a lot of real friends I was blessed to make at college.

4. I absolutely love motherhood. But nothing makes me sadder faster than seeing the look of discouragement on my child’s face. And nothing is scarier sometimes either.  Even when they’re teens.

5. I can forgive just about anything you do to me. But be a threat to my child and you’d better run. Then again, that’s mostly for anyone old enough to know better. Just because my kid comes home and says “Johnny hit me!” doesn’t mean I feel it’s appropriate for me to always jump in. Kids also have to learn to figure things out too. Keeping that in mind, dead seriously I am a momma bear and you will not get between me and my young. If you don’t have kids you just don’t know.

6. I am very much like my astrological signs. The Scorpio side of me is fiercely independent, (impatient), discerning and loyal while the Libra part of me is the mediator and truly does just want everyone to get along. So the two of them just want to smack you around when you don’t behave around me.

7. I despise gossip and liars and have a high tolerance to pain.

8. I actually lived through the tornadoes of “Terrible Tuesday.”

9. I graduated high school at age 15 and attended my first local university as a Piano Major.

10. I have been too close to personal danger and near death experiences for my comfort now as a mother.

11. Yes, I actually wore a dress and heels on my motorcycle to church, and gracefully without showing anything too. And was purely stupid for doing it. But at the time, it seemed my only choice being my only mode of transportation. I also learned how to carry a gallon of milk strapped to the gas tank, a formal laid along the back and two bags of groceries safely 45 miles one way. Not to mention some luggage once for a girlfriend I won’t name. If you ever saw a motorcycle go by with taffeta flying in the wind, it was probably me….

12. I was once asked to remove a beer can full of flowers from my dorm room desk because of prohibition on campus.

13. There are three main personal goals I still wish to pursue in life. A family garage band. Publish several books and actually making some money for it. And getting my music compositions into some sort of print format. I also still want to finish pursuing becoming a piano technician and joining the guild.

14. Because my motorcycle was in the garage in need of repair…for so long…John starting saying I’m not BikerMom anymore – I’m PartsMom. (Sigh – and he’s right…)

15. I can’t watch horror movies or read horror books. No really… I can’t.

16. My school principal once told me she wanted to travel across the country with my voice. But the same principal said I had no talent for piano. And that my brother had no talent for art. To this day I wonder if she said those untruths on purpose knowing we’d strive to prove her wrong. I don’t know how mad my brother got, but it ticked me off to no end.

17. I cherish memories. I’m a little romantic that way. My earliest memory was proven to be at the age of about 18 months. I also vividly remember portions of the day my brother was born about a year later. I remember my grandparents magically showing up at the hospital and one of them asking me “Isn’t he cute!” and me distinctly wondering what on earth about a screaming baby was cute. Unfortunately, there are more pot-holes in my memories than I’m comfortable with. And one of my lifelong fears is losing my memory.

18. I have been interviewed by local news live, in studio and in published writing more times than I have fingers to count, both as child and adult.

19. I held the 4-H county reporter’s office one year, but was unhappy to only *happen* to find out about my appointment to the office (which I never applied for) in the county newsletter. Thank goodness I actually read it. I was 16.

20. John is the love of my life and a total support to me in all I do. While he was deployed, it really hurt, way more than either he or I thought was possible. I am far more confident and effective with him than apart.

21. I crochet. Not knit, not weave, not macramé. I CROCHET. And I’m a Ravelry geek too. But like all social things, I tend to go in spurts.

22. Some fond memories from college involve the double-takes and comments I often got while strapping my basket of crochet to the back of my motorcycle before leaving the dorm.  I also used to be known for pranks and some pretty cool mystery dates.  I set up 25 dates in a single day for one guy.  Of course, this was long before the days of speed dating.  And my girls made it into an adventure across campus for him.

23. I am not a slave to my phone or my doorbell. I have no problem unplugging the phone if necessary.

24. In 2005 I walked away from a car accident I probably shouldn’t have. But not without consequence. Within 2 hours I was completely numb on my left side. After a year of physical therapy and a whole bunch of hard work and tears, I regained most use with only occasional numbness and less pain. But I still have occasional issues with my hand going numb if the nerve cluster under my shoulder blade is impinged.  And I’m still angry at the man who literally ran over my car with a giant construction truck sporting a frontal demolition attachment, and my lawyer who failed to show up at a hearing which cause my case to be dismissed.  And not only did he fail, he led me to believe he was working for me trying to get my case reinstated.  Until it was too late. I was never at fault.  Someone ran over the back of my car at 65 miles an hour with a rig that looked like a snow plow, destroying the back seat and channeling the force of everything into my body.  It should never have been that bad.  And I should never have lost my case.  But I tried to pick a “nice” lawyer.

25. Black is a staple in my wardrobe. But because I like good tools that work. Not because it is my favorite color. I have no real favorite color. But black hides a multitude of sins, it looks good on me and it goes with everything. It’s also one of the only colors that does not take away from other colors when put together. (In other words, it does not change how your eye perceives any color put together with it.) So logically and practically, it saves me money and time. Therefore, black is a staple.