10 Surprising Things About Me

 My "MadMen" avatar (I have never watched the show!)  - you too can picture yourself in the 60s here. Fun!

I have to say this was a very difficult post to write! Not curious things, not interesting things, or even cool things... surprising things! I have been thinking probably too long and hard about what people might find genuinely surprising about me. Also, how not to let it degenerate into True Confessions! Ha. Great fun, though... thanks to my sister-in-law "Kasclar" at Journal of a Nobody for tagging me. Here we go, Top Ten style:

10. I've never liked babysitting. I love my kids, but find it kind of terrifying to watch someone else's. I have gotten over that a little, mostly because my friends' kids are so darn cute! But you'll never catch me opening a daycare.

9.  I can't stand chaos. I know... everyone who knows me, stop laughing. It's life as we know it here in this house! The truth is that I am easily overwhelmed by clutter, noise and activity. Somehow I just haven't figured out how to rein it in or live with it. Suffice it to say, I don't often feel peaceful.

8. I don't fold socks or "whites". They go in separate baskets and we all go fishing! Big time-saver for me, so I actually enjoy folding the other clothes. It's one of those rewarding jobs, for me. I think I picked this up from Flylady. Yes, I should follow some of her other advice, too.

7. I have a lead foot! I hope obeying the speed limit is not part of respecting legitimate authority, or I will be in Purgatory for a long time. Longer than I will be anyway, I mean. Yikes.

6. I'm the silent type. I would rather listen to silence than even to music most of the time. This may come from being overwhelmed with noise every day, but at this time in my life, the radio is OFF when I have to drive somewhere. Jeff would like me to point out, however, that I do seem to like "white noise" and I  keep the house fan running all the time. Which annoys him. Profound silence makes my ears ring. There's a good reason right there why I am not a nun.

5. I did think seriously about becoming a nun at one time, really! There are even more reasons now why that life seems appealing... but lots of other reasons why I know it wasn't for me. Here are a few of them.

4. I'm not always the head cook at our house. This evolved over time. As I have been more consumed with little people's needs, Jeff has stepped in when he is here. If he is home, he very often cooks. Thankfully, he enjoys it and secretly wishes to be a chef. (And he is good at it!) Many times we cook together and that is fun, until we step on each other, or I start telling him what to do. Of course I cook when he is not home, but it's not really cooking, as in a large meal. Picky kids, lazy mom, you know... We do each have our "specialties" which the other doesn't make, so I still have a corner on some meals. But I fully expect to pick up my kitchen goddess tiara again in the future. When I get the chaos under control...

3. I was a redhead when I met Jeff! I loved it and he keeps wishing I would go back to it, but the maintenance at this point seems kind of... daunting. I still have the color name tucked away if I ever need it again. I wonder if they still make it. (Actually it was more like auburn. But still.)

2. I am trained as a professional driver and held a CDL for several years early in my marriage. Yes, folks, that's right, I can drive a big rig! I did it so Jeff and I could work together and see the country while earning some decent money. It was one of the best times in our lives - I enjoyed it for the most part, although being away from home constantly was hard on this homebody. We lasted a year doing that together, and he is still driving regionally himself, these many years later. Jeff still makes fun of me for never learning to back up properly. Why should I, when I had an experienced professional on board at all times?

1. I've had my last 2 babies at home. Criticism ranges from "crazy" to "brave", but after my hospital experience with the first, I did my research and have had a wonderful midwife to help me with the homebirths. It is far from easy, but so much nicer in the long run.

OK, so surprise me with little-known information about yourself! If you want to play, post your top ten and leave me a comment when you do. A few particular people I want to tag (if you're up for it) are:

Christine at A House Full of Blessings
Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things
Margaret at Minnesota Mom
Chris at An Eclectic Odyssey
Jen at Forever, For Always, No Matter What