Schwartz Family

Courtesy of Facebook tags, here are my 25 Random Things.

1. I long for the quintessential country life: farmhouse on a hill, 1/4 mile driveway with the mailbox at the end, dog sleeping under the porch, hanging triangle for announcing supper, firewood pile and chopping block, aprons with big patch pockets, egg-laying hens, vegetable gardens, clotheslines and knee high grass.

2. The Annapolis Mall placates me in our current non-country domicile.

3. I have an incorrigable black thumb. No photosynthetic life flourishes in my care. =(

4. In college, I did 84 girl push ups in freshman fit/well. I don't know if I've done one since but I do know my triceps have atrophied to the size and consistency of an office rubber band.

5. The minute I met Chris, I was attracted to him. After our first long conversation, I had the biggest crush on him, and I never recovered.

6. My favorite book is Little Britches by Ralph Moody. This book had a profound influence on me as a kid and I still think of parts of it at least once a week.

7. During the emotional turmoil of early college years, I found solace in Caedmon's Call's Table for Two. That seemed to be the fad amongst Grovers.

8. When my older brother and I were really little, our parents took us camping in FL where we went swimming in a little pond with life jackets on. At the far edge of the pond was a large bumpy object that resembled and could have been an alligator. My brother wouldn't go near it, but I paddled over and touched it. This, and the fact that he cried on Space Mountain, lead me to believe that I am braver than Nick.

9. I held the record for the 100m dash in middle school, but my dad has always been faster than me and probably always will be.

10. I have a recipe box that has space for 400 cards. Only recipes that are huge hits are allowed in. So far I have 30 and half of them are desserts.

11. When I was 7, my parents gave me a computer game called Jenny of the Plains. A wagon train had accidentally left Jenny behind and the responsibility to collect food, find shelter and protect Jenny from foxes rested solely on the player's shoulders. The game traumatized me. I got shaky every time I tried to play it and cried when Jenny died because I couldn't find enough berries. After a couple days, my parents threw it away.

12. Even as a kid, I was fascinated by Martha Stewart. She always made things so pretty. My enthusiasm for her has tempered with age, but I still think she makes beautiful things. And I still faithfully read Martha Stewart Living.

13. And, speaking of, Martha put a home keeping book out a couple years back that improved our home's daily appearance greatly. Her one line, "stacked dishes are both unsightly and unsanitary," stuck and has kept our kitchen sink empty for two years now. Thanks, Martha.

14. I think my little girls are wonderful and I am crazy about them, and sometimes going crazy because of them.

15. I'm a planner. I cannot freehand create something. I want to draw it out first on graph paper or at least picture it in quadrants in my head.

16. I hated taking baths as a kid. I once blew out the pilot light on my grandparent's water heater so I could tell my mom there was no hot water.

17. Growing up, we spent a lot of time at my grandparents' in AZ because my dad was on military deployment for six months at a time. My brothers and I ran around the Mojave Desert without shoes on half the time and I still have callused heels to show for it.

18. I read all the Hardy Boys books and adored the older Hardy brother, Frank. Senior year of high school, I learned that my AP Lit teacher's grandfather wrote the books. I liked her so much more for that.

19. I have a penchant for all things Pottery Barn. Call me a lemming, I can't help but fall for clean lines and classic styles.

20. As a college freshman, I read AW Pink's The Sovereignty of God and never was the same.

21. It has been two and half years since I have gone 12 hours without wiping someone else's rear.

22. Not much grosses me out more than kids losing teeth. I dissected an entire human cadaver and would rather do that again than see a kid wiggling a loose tooth with her tongue.

23. Also, mice really gross me out. When Chris had to tell me that he found one in our basement, I thought someone had died the way he started out- "I'm not sure of a good way to say this, so I'm just going to tell you..."

24. And further, (don't anyone be offended), I truly wish I had cat allergies so I could diplomatically say, I can't touch or be near your cat. I just don't like cats. Not even the ones prefaced with, "I'm not a cat person, but I like this cat." I cannot be reformed.

25. I loved Square One, especially Mathnet. I wanted to be Kate Monday.