Just for Fun: 10 Random Facts About Me

It's been a long time since I wrote a post like this, but Michelle I. Mason wrote a fun one and (sort of) challenged her readers to do the same, so here I am, following her example! I tried really hard to dig deep and list the most interesting things. Judge for yourself on whether I succeeded!

1. My hubby and I have been married for a quarter of a century.

2. My teenage son thinks I'm a little weird because I enjoy playing Minecraft. But he can't tease me too much because he plays along with me!

3. One time I dressed up as Bilbo Baggins for my church's Trunk-or-Treat event. I made the costume myself out of repurposed clothing I found at a thrift store.

4. One of my favorite hobbies is making handmade journals. Some are made with repurposed chipboard covers and pages made of card stock or drawing paper. Others are made out food boxes (such as cake mix or cereal) and other repurposed papers. It's a fun creative exercise, and I sometimes give the finished products away as gifts.

5. My daughter Samantha sometimes calls me Mo, after the father in the book Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, because of the book-repairing skills I acquired during my years working in a school library. Many damaged books have gotten a new lease on life thanks to that handy skill! I've repaired Bibles and other books for family members and friends, and have even rescued a few from the church pews when I've noticed them in need of a good gluing. I brought them back as good as new, of course.

6. Another title I've earned from my children is that of The Finder of Things because of my knack for finding missing things when everyone else's efforts have failed.

7. When I was a little girl I went through a long list of things I wanted to be when I grew up. A doctor, a policewoman, a zoologist. At the top of the list was always "wife and mother," though. Artist and poet were there too, but they always seemed to be a part of me that I had to develop rather than something I wanted to become some day.

8. I have a weakness for science fiction movies, especially those involving alien invasions or space exploration. In fact, one of my favorite movies ever is Independence Day. But the sequel? Let's all just pretend it doesn't exist. Are you with me?

9. Besides English, I have studied three languages at some point in my life. German, Japanese, and Spanish. I studied German while I lived in Germany as a kid, and for six years in school after that. I took one year of Japanese in high school. And I've been slowly learning Spanish over the past 25 years of being married to a native speaker. It's a shame that I'm not fluent yet, but I can get by when I must, and I've made it my goal to be proficient (and comfortable) in conversational Spanish by the end of this year.

10. I have never broken a bone, but I have: gotten whiplash in a freak swimming pool accident, torn the ligaments in my left foot while dancing, chipped my right elbow on a skating rink floor, and bruised my coccyx (tailbone) when the swing I was on broke.

Do you have any of these things in common with me? I'd love to hear about it!

Before I get whiplash...

I had a blog post idea for today. But how many times can I start and stop, start and stop, before I begin to feel like I did when my sister was learning how to drive a stick?

Lurch, stop. Lurch, stop. Lurch, stop.

Sometimes it's just best to get out of the car.

Me, Checking In

Do you hate it when a blogger has a long, unexplained absence only to return to blogging in order to tell you nothing more than why they had a long, unexplained absence? Would you prefer they get right back to their usual topic, or are you interested in the occasionally mundane details of their actual life?

Personally, I'm always interested in knowing why the authors of my favorite blogs have been absent. Even if their reasoning is nothing more than a spell of blogger's block.

You might have noticed that I have been one of those absent bloggers for the past few weeks. Maybe you're hoping that I have some fantastic story of adventure to relay that will explain my negligence.

I'm sorry to disappoint you.

I have not spent time in the hospital, or been bed-ridden with an illness or broken bone. Nor have I been in a faraway land seeking adventure or welcomed a new addition into the family. I have simply been busy.

The end of May leaves little time for thinking of much besides the end of the school year. And then the end of the school year comes around and leaves little time for much besides hanging out with my kids. Add to that a big family service project* and that leaves me with zero time and a negative balance on my inspiration meter!

Now the service project is over and my family is preparing to spend a few days on the beautiful North Shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. I hope to come home with a few treasures from the pebble beach and the time (and inspiration) to get back to blogging and writing. Oh, and some pictures too!

I hope you are all having a wonderful June so far!


* The big family service project was a yard sale to raise money for the House of Dreams Orphanage in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It was a long, sweaty weekend, but we were able to raise over $400 to help them in their goal of building a permanent home for their "dreamers." Glory to God!

What should I title this blog post?

I'd really love to blog

on something helpful, something new.

Instead I'm staring at the screen,

unsure of what to do.

I'd love to get a grip on

one idea within my head,

but when I sit to blog on it,

my mind just WHIRRS instead.

Even journal entries are

a tangled web of thoughts,

mixed up lines and slanted rhymes,

scribbles, scratches, jots.

I'm hopeful that this writer brain,

with just a little luck,

will (in time for NaNoWriMo)

find its way out of this MUCK!

TIP: If all else fails, write a dorky poem.

Screaming for Ice Cream

Blogging is a good way to stretch one's writing muscles. So here's a true story for you. I hope it tickles your funny bone.

I heard the distant "ding-ding" of the ice cream truck, followed by eager gasps from two of my children, seven-year-old Little Guy and eleven-year-old Daughter #2.

"The ice cream man!" Little Guy cried out. "Mom, you said you'd get us ice cream."

I smiled, remembering my promise from a few weeks earlier: "The next time the ding-ding man comes by, I'll get all three of you an ice cream."

We had waited weeks, and now the time had come. Maybe.

"Go get my purse," I said. "Just in case he comes down our street." I was doubtful. After all, we'd heard the distant "ding-ding" in times past, only to be disappointed.

David came running out of the house about 30 seconds later, holding my purse out in front of him. I took the purse, laughing, and told him to go play.

Time passed. It was getting close to bed time. Hope seemed to be lost. So I called the kids inside and told them they could have milk and cookies instead.

A few minutes later, two of my kiddos were seated at the table. Little Guy dunked a cookie into his milk, then suddenly erupted with, "The ice cream man! He's coming!"

Before I could respond, Little Guy and Daughter #2 bolted out the door, Little Guy in the lead. I followed in time to see him dashing down the sidewalk, arms flailing in the air, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream!"

The truck had just turned the corner. Was it too late?

I went back into the house to grab my purse, just in case. When I came back outside, the ice cream truck had turned around and was heading up the hill toward our house. The looks of glee on my children's faces were priceless.

Laughing, I told the young girl in the truck, "They thought they'd missed you."

And she replied, "We heard them screaming."

It was five dollars well spent.