Friday, January 16, 2009

Seven Things You Wish You Never Knew

My friend Jennie tagged me a month or so ago, and I've finally decided to do it. And just so I don't forget, I'm tagging AMR, my sister Kim, cousin Klare, Tricia, Crys, Bernice and Ann Dee. So come on ladies...let us peek inside your neurotic little brains.

1. I am my mother. Okay. Not really, but I find myself turning into her bit by bit. WE only buy Knudsen cottage cheese, Smart Balance butter, and Jennie-O Turkey Dogs...We've even been know to show up in the same shirt. "Oh my gosh. That's so cute. Did you get it on sale at Target?" But the most obvious is when I hear myself say things like, "Hey kids, do you want to play a game?" "Yay! A game. Yes, we want to play." "Okay. It's called Clean-Up-The-Living-Room!" "Boo. Nooooooo...." Or when I find myself shaking my fist threateningly at a child or two while I'm on the phone----which we all know translates into, "Please, my dear sweet child. Please be as quiet as a little mouse while I am on the telephone." I've even said, "Hey, do you guys want some cookies?" "Yay! Yes, we want cookies." "Good, go make some!" Wait...I haven't said that yet. But, I feel it coming. I expect the transformation will be complete in a year or two. By the way...love you Mom!

2. I can't sleep in an unmade bed. Well, I guess I CAN. But who would ever want to? It's so uncomfortable. So even if it's in the wee hours of the morning and I'm just dragging myself to bed. Who am I kidding? I mean, if it's like 10:00pm and my bed hasn't been made that day, I still make it, before I go to bed. (This drives Adam crazy.) I've got this whole Princess and the Pea thing going on...right, who is the Princess? I am.

3. I love Rick Springfield. Okay. This obessesion started in fifth grade when I sent the best picture of myself (wearing my Jukebox T-shirt) to him. I don't know what I expected to happen, but he never responded...the jerk. But. I still love him. Especially the song, "Jessie's Girl." A while ago Adam and I had a huge debate about the lyrics. It goes, "I wish that I had Jessie's girl. You know, I feel so dirty when they start talking cute, I wanna tell her that I love her, but the point is rather_____." What? What is the word? I said, " Uhm...shot...no. Uhm...loot. No. What is the word?" Adam said, "Moot." I said, "Right. That's not even a word. You made up that word. Do you think I'm dense?" (Adam has been known to make up a word or two...)
So I bet him like a life-time of foot massages, that the word was NOT moot. I mean, what does that even mean? What kind of lunatic does he take me for? So...we looked it up.

It is...MOOT. And my hands are really tired of rubbing hairy toes. Whoops. Did I say that outloud? By the way, moot means: "debatable; doubtful: a moot point. 2. of little or no practical value or meaning; purely academic." I would say, Adam is moot!

4. I sleep talk. Okay. Adam would say, "Sleep-Freak-Out," but I say SEMANTICS SHEMANTICS right? Among my many sleep issues, I have a weird paranoia about my wedding ring while I am in the deep throws of dreamland. I've been known to make Adam look for my wedding ring at 3am. He searched the car, my closet, my purse...and then finally drew the line when asked to go to the basement...and then he found it, where it ALWAYS is, sitting in my jewelrey box. Now, when I go into wedding-ring-frantic-mode he pats his BYU sweats pocket and says, "I have it. It's right here. Don't you worry about your wedding ring...PLEASE go to sleep." We have our theories about why I do this...and none of them are pretty.

5. I like being first. I guess it comes from being the FIRST child. You know...first born, first to go to kindergarten, first to date, drive, go to Prom. I always had new clothes...never had to deal with hand-me-downs like my 2nd and 3rd born sisters. First to get married, I had the FIRST blessed grandchild. You get the picture. But now...that idea is sort of turning on me.

Now, I'm the first to turn 40...okay, it hasn't happened YET, but it WILL. And I'll be the first. I'm the first to have a child roll their eyes at me and say, "Mom! You're so mean. I hate this family!" Who wants to be the first at that? And now, I'm the first to not be able to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans. This first thing is WAY over-rated.

6. I have a love hate relationship with the dishwasher. I rinse every dish spotless before I load it into the dishwasher (another Mom thing). Adam says I defeate the purpose of a dishwasher and that the dishes are practically clean before I put them in. He also reminds me that we bought the very fancy dishwasher with the garbage disposal in the bottom so you CAN load things like say, a plate full of spaghetti, into it and not blink an eye. Gross. Sorry Adam, I...just...can't...do...it. Curses.

7. I love to make lists....I mean. Not just like to make lists. But I LOVE to makes lists and the best part of the list making is the crossing things off. That is the BEST part of all. Sometimes, when it's just hard to wander bleary eyed out of bed, I put:
1. Get out of bed. (yay! Check that off)
2. Brush teeth. check. (I'm sooo amazing at getting things done!)
3. Get dressed. Check. (Look how well I manage my valuable time.)
Okay. You get the idea. Lists are just great in every way. I have lists of: vacations I want to take, books I want to read, baby names I like, when to clean what and on what day, what coupons I need to use, scriptures I want to memorize, recipes I want to try, exercises I need to do, books I want to write, people I want to be like...I have a list for every occasion. And, well. I love it.
Grace, the poor child, is just like her mother. She is a list-aholic as well. Here's what her list look like:
1. inventions she wants to create
2. the trampoline room she wants in her not-yet-built-tree-house
3. parties she will have
4. mysteries to solve
5. Pokemon cards she has
6. pets she wants to have (but Mom won't let her.)
7. tricks she'll teach the pets she can't have.
8. science experiments to try...
Actually, her lists are much more interesting than mine.

So, that's it. Now, it's your turn!

10 comments:

The Harker's said...

I loved the info! And I have to say, some things must run in the family. I will only buy Knudsen cottage cheese too (which is bad because I don't think they have it here in NY), and I too HAVE to rinse every dish spotless when I load the dishwasher. That's really funny. Who would have known?

Kris said...

I found your blog on accident and then found that you were a fellow Rick Springfield fan. As I continued to read I saw that you are also LDS. What a coincidence -so am I! Love your blog and your family is darling!

Jennie said...

Jen-
It was so fun to read about your quirks. I hope you had a great holiday. Your family pictures are beautiful! I'm so glad we can stay in touch this way.

Shauna said...

Hope you have a beautiful weekend! ♥ Hugs :)

Klare said...

You totally had me craki' up! I loved this. Give me some time and I will do it. Just need to think awhile. :)

The Peach.... said...

I love this post....yep, I can't sleep in an unmade bed either, I can't walk by a bed without making it. WHO KNEW....remember what disasters we used to live in in college???????

Welsch Family said...

That was hilarious. I was laughing out loud. Remind me to tell you guys Alyssa's freak out dream stories. There are some good ones.

Nick

Anna Marie said...

Ha Ha ...I love it. I'll do it. NO wonder I like you so much. You remind me of ME!

Char said...

Just to set the record straight about the cookies! Years ago, when Jack and Nick were teenagers, I had just bought some frozen cookie dough. When I asked Jack and Nick if they wanted cookies and they said yes, I said, "Ok, just go bake some." They didn't get it (that the cookies were already made and you just had to put them on a cookie sheet and bake them). They laughed and laughed at me and I seriously do not think they ever heard me tell them that they just had to get the already made cookies out of the freezer and bake them.
Not that dumb - mom

Cece Girl said...

Awww...Mom. Come on. You're ruining our fun...Just let us tell the story the way we want to! xoxo