Hello, My Name Is...

A couple of weeks ago, my good bloggy pal That Girl did a getting-to-know-you blog and encouraged her readers to do the same. So I am. Even though I have approximately 2.7 readers and 98% of them know me personally. So without further ado, ME.

I have five older brothers and sisters and I don't know any of them as well as I would like to. I probably love each and every one of them more than they think I do.

My dad died ten and-a-half years ago and I still have moments when I think "I should call Dad and ask what he thinks about this..." and then I cry.

Oldies music (real oldies, not eighties music, kids) makes me think of my dad.

I just found out that I am in fact older than most of my girl pals when I thought that I was younger. Not quite sure what that means...

I swear a lot more than I should, sometimes in front of my kids.

I love my husband more than I ever thought loving someone was possible. He makes me laugh every single day and I love being on his arm. You should all be jealous, because he is awesome.

I use the word "awesome" a lot.

I almost never eat leftovers. They gross me out.

I am terribly shy and don't like meeting people, even though I am aware that most people mistake my shyness for haughtiness. It's always a delight when someone is finally able to get past my prickly exterior and find out that I'm sorta like a burned marshmallow: not all that appealing on the outside but warm, soft and awesome on the inside.

I am easily annoyed by small, repetitive sounds. Squeaking rocking chairs, clicking pens, smacking gum; all have caused me to leave the room.

As you may have gathered from the last statement, I do my best to avoid confrontations. I pick my fights carefully, but when something has my dander up high enough you will hear about it. It just takes a while to get me to that point.

I have this insane idea that I look completely different than I did in school so whenever I see someone that I haven't seen in ten years or more, I pretend that I don't know them so that I don't look stupid when I say "Hi!" and they don't know who I am. Yes, I see the irony.

I love animals and have had more pets than I can even count.

I have four kids, am a stay-at-home-mom and never ever wish to have a "real" job again.

My kids alternately delight, astound, infuriate and amuse me each and every day.

When I was little, I loved Indiana Jones and I aspired to marry him, be known as Indiana Julie and have wonderful adventures with him.

I worry every day that my children will need to have therapy because of the fact that I am their mother. Really.

I have recently developed a crush on the country of Scotland and all things Celtic. It's pretty lame, but I am enamored. Thank you, Diana Gabaldon.

I love SpongeBob. I could watch it all day and I get really excited when an episode comes on that I've never seen.

I have a supremely over-active sense of guilt. I feel guilty about nearly everything. If there are any lonely, orphaned feelings of guilt out there, I will gather them to me and make them my own.

I hate shopping, especially clothes shopping. I haven't purchased clothing for myself in at least a year, maybe two. I always spend more than I need to because my shopping philosophy is "Get in, get the stuff, and get out. Quickly."

There you have it, in a nut shell, or a turtle shell, or a bomb shell, or whatever kind of shell you like.