Slice of Life Sunday – 30ish Random Things About Me…

Stealing an idea from Jessica’s book, for my birthday this month (don’t want to put the exact day for just anyone out there to see) I am giving you 30ish random things about me.

1. I have known my Hubby since we were in elementary school. In high school he dated my BFF. She was the maid of honor at our wedding. 
2. My high school class only had 50 people in it. My high school (grades 6-12) only had 300 people in it. I was pretty sheltered until I went to one of the largest universities in the country. 
3. I can’t ride a bike. I rode a horse instead. All my nearby friends growing up had horses, so we rode to each others’ houses. Once I even rode my horse to school. 
4. I spent several years during and after college working as a summer camp counselor. 
5. I was a double major in college – English and Film.
6. Even though I was an actress all through high school and beyond, I was known for being quiet and bookish. 
7. If you had asked me at 18 what I would be doing now, I never in a million years would have come up with this career. But I love it. 
8. I have seen The Princess Bride over 100 times. Probably closer to 200. I can quote the whole movie. 
9. Hubby and I were married for over a decade before we had kids. Tater is a souvenir from a trip to Spain. 
10. Both my parents are half German descent, half Mexican descent, and bilingual. But I didn’t speak any Spanish until high school because they mostly only used Spanish when they wanted to talk to each other but didn’t want us kids to understand. My brothers speak even less of it than I do. 
11. I love chocolate. My mom claims this is because she ate a Hershey bar every day while pregnant with me. 
12. I gained an insane amount of weight while pregnant with Tater from eating a box of Cabury Creme eggs daily during my 9th month. I had to log a lot of miles to get rid of the extra padding. 
13. I read a ton. More than anyone I know besides a couple of my English teacher friends. 
14. I love Shakespeare. I studied and performed Shakespeare in college, and while teaching got to do a monthlong study with Shakespeare and Company. I had a Shakespearean sonnet read at my wedding. 
15. I suck at any sport that involves a ball. Therefore I hated Phys Ed growing up. 
16. My mom used to force me to go outside, which I would agree to so long as I could take my book. She would allow that as long as I kept moving. So I walked laps around the back yard while reading. 
17. I can cry on cue. This came in handy when I wanted the orthodontist to take my braces off in time for junior prom. My mom calls it my Cinderella act. My dad always falls for it, even when he knows that’s what I’m doing. 
18. I never imagined myself as a boy mom. But now I can’t imagine having girls. 
19. Once, I agreed to sponsor the cheerleaders at the high school I worked at in addition to the theatre program I already ran. Because I felt sorry for my principal that no one would do it, and because our team never made playoffs so it was a short time commitment. The team went to state that year. 
20. I am ruthless about throwing stuff away. If it can’t be organized, into the trash or garage sale pile it goes. I worry I will regret this someday. 
21. I make the best chocolate chip cookies ever. 
22. I hate to cook dinner. More than any other household chore. One day when I win the lottery the first help I’m hiring is a cook. 
23. I am always cold. Even when I was pregnant. I can’t ever move to a colder climate than Central Texas. Seriously. I pull out sweaters at 70 degrees and my heavy -30 degree jacket at 50 degrees. 
24. I love hot drinks – coffee, hot chocolate, hot herbal tea
25. My mom taught me to sew on the machine by drawing lines on fabric and having me practice sewing over them. Then I graduated to zig-zags.
26. I have a thing for John Cusack. I think I fell in love with him in Say Anything and never fell out. Also I wish sometimes that I could wear dresses every day like Ione Skye does in that movie.
27. And I’m also kind of obsessed with 1980s-2000s teen movies/TV dramas. Well before and beyond being a teenager myself. It’s just such a fraught age. Also John Hughes was a genius.
28. I love, love, love Dave Matthews Band, Blue October and Sarah McLachlan. Beyond them, my musical taste is very eclectic. My iTunes music library ranges from ABBA to Yerba Buena.
29. Sound editing is/was often my favorite part of film/play production. 
30. I quit piano lessons early on because my younger brother is a musical genius and I hated that we started at the same time and he leapfrogged over me within a few weeks. 
31. Someday I want to finish the fiction novel I started in 2006. Someday.
32. I’m pretty good with power tools and used to teach high school students to use them. One of my students made me a “Power Tool Fairy” t-shirt that I still have.
33. I love shoes, but have incredibly small feet. So I don’t get to buy them that often. But I can also shop in the kids shoe department.
34. I also have tiny fingers. My ring size is a 3. Which means I’m either cheap or really expensive to buy jewelry for, depending on whether you shop in the kids dept or get something custom made. Hubby has done both. 
35. I am perpetually 5 minutes late. When we went to Spain, my husband concluded that this must be a genetically inherited cultural thing. I am inclined to agree, as it lets me off the hook with him. 

So there you go – for my thirty-ish something birthday month, thirty-ish random things about me.