Social media has me thinking......

 Facebook has this going around and after I wrote it, I wanted to ensure I kept it around.  The idea is that you need to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.  It helps get conversations started, give insight into people beyond status updates and shows a different side.  Here was my attempt at greatness.....or mediocrity.  At least I try.

1.) I wish I could remember more details. My cousin can remember every single date of any family event and who used to live where for 40 years. I can't remember what we had for breakfast. My best thinking is done while cleaning a horse stall or taking a shower (and one does indeed have to follow the other, trust me). Sometimes the thoughts go so fast I make myself dizzy. No comments please.

2.) My husband makes the best breakfast food ever and spoils us with it every weekend......oh wait...I do remember what I had for breakfast!!! Redemption!

3.) I'm addicted to facebook... truly. And I am a pusher. Sorry Tracey, Peter and Janis! Chocolate would be my other addiction. Can you have more than two?

4.) My first car was a Scirocco and I wrecked it one day after I paid it off and had it washed and waxed. My favorite car was a 72 Gran Torino. It leaked a quart of oil a week but man she was fast....and a tank. I hear she still lives on....I never washed her. Theory still holds true today for all of you that know me well...my car is always dusty.

5.) I cry at Hallmark commercials and the news. Hallmark is happy tears....my sentimental side. I can't say the same for the news at night since I don't even believe some of these stories. I think it should be a requirement to end with one feel good story so we can all remember the compassion and capacity for good in the human race. Is there a reason that committing murder and going to jail is more desirable than divorce and putting your unwanted kids up for adoption? What is it with these psychotic people that have to kill their spouses and kids out of spite?

Headline: All you people contemplating killing your wife/girlfriend/unborn child/children.....please, please bring them all to my house and drop them off in exchange for 10k cash. Then head to Mexico and disappear. It beats jail. I'd rather have a second mortgage than watch another pregnant woman disappear or be killed.

6.) I'm deathly afraid of spiders...totally, completely and irrationally afraid. I love my brother-in-law more than anything cause he is equally afraid and killed one the size of an orange once for me. I swear...REALLY. It was that big. And was hairy....could have been a small rodent come to think of it.

7.) Mr Potato Head has a nice pink purse. I put it there the other day. Does that make him a Mrs? I love having an excuse to act like a child again. Giggle for no reason, lay in bed with the kids and talk about our day, make up stories, play games, build with blocks, and just run around wild and get dirty!

8.) My kids amaze me and fill me up. Ethan wants to live in a stormtrooper house. Go figure. He says his Daddy can come too. And he says when he grows up he is going to marry Daddy....just like me. Okay then.

9.) My youngest child's deepest disappointment was the afternoon his daycare ran out of crackers. I pray to God that remains true for a long time to come and that I never have to see him sitting alone with tears streaming down his face again. Now mind you at the time, I thought it was hysterical...I mean I walk in to see him so sad and forlorn....figured he got in trouble or fought with another child over a toy. When his teacher told me the reason he was so upset, I just laughed until he ran over just totally distraught and jumped into my arms...patting me on my back as he held on. I melted.....I'll buy a lifetime supply of goldfish...what the hay, I am already in debt thanks to the morons in number 5.

10.) I miss my grandparents. Every day. I loved Grandma's feisty pink lipstick and wish I had told her. I'm grateful I was there to take care of them and I have few regrets about our time together but there are so many little things you just always miss. I cherish my parents every day and know how lucky I am to have them so close and in our lives.

11.) I wish I had more time to read books that are not printed on boards with 20 point font. But if I had to choose between the two options, Goodnight Moon will always win out.

12.) I love my job and every single person I work with....even my boss is the greatest. I am so lucky to have loved quite a few of my jobs and I have a diverse resume as a result....a waitress at a 50s bar, preschool teacher, riding instructor, camp counselor, lifeguard, driving instructor for the state of NY (even lived to talk about it). I look back on my life and smile. I like that.

13.) I like to take photographs and have decorated my home with some framed black and whites of old tobacco barns. Now the fun part of this was that it was not a huge artistic undertaking but a stealth mission. Most are on private land and so my friend Mary drove, we stopped at planned locations timed with the light, I jumped out, snapped like mad and then we dashed. Stolen pictures.

14.) I can't stand litterers. I fail to comprehend how incredibly hard it is to keep a bag in your car for trash and throw it out when you get home. Or take out of the park what you brought in. Are they mistakenly thinking the expression is "The world is your trash receptacle"? I could have sworn it was "oyster" folks. I just have to assume they are either ignorant of the consequences or innately lazy. Of course, they are second to the morons referred to in number 5.

15.) My sister totally gets me...always and unconditionally. My girlfriends are pretty close :-)

16.) I'm a godmother and I love it! It is the greatest honor a friend has ever bestowed on me.

17.) My home will always be in NY and my life and heart will always be in NC. I miss the mountains, the river, the snow and the trees. I cherish the memories of building tunnels and forts in the snow banks, playing kick the can on the dead end. I loved every aspect of my childhood and growing up and I had such a sense of peace there thanks to my parents and grandparents. They created a wonderful world for us. One of my best memories is of our apple cider fort (had been a parade float) where Jean and I spent our days collecting caterpillars and sitting on the roof planning our future. I can still feel the shingles beneath my hands.

18.) I can't recall a time when I wasn't enthralled with just being around horses. I remember drawing a picture of a black horse (and I can't draw - at all) and putting it on the door from the kitchen to the garage. For years I ate my meals staring at the caption "Nightmare and Jennifer Becker" and begging for a horse at every birthday and holiday. My 16th birthday I had a little party and was opening all my presents. I was down to the last present and when I opened it, it was a nightie. My mom wanted me to take it out and hold it up. Like, hello, party with teenagers? Uh no. She insisted and I was torn between not doing it and making a scene or doing it and never living it down. Well, I picked it up out of the box and nearly died. Taped to the bottom of the box were pictures of a horse. My horse. As I was standing there in shock, my sis and friends carried in a trunk filled with brushes, saddle, bridle etc. I collapsed in tears. This is one of my happiest memories and shows how incredible my family was. Now, before you go off thinking I was totally spoiled, my parents got me 2 jobs to help pay for "Rocky". On the weekends I worked at the tack store selling saddles and supplies to horse owners. The rest of the time I worked as a groom at the barn after school. It is testament to how much I loved horses and wanted to do something with it since it greatly impacted my social life. I was a teenager who was at the barn more than with her friends. The payoff came years later in college. I tried out and made the equestrian team and was put into the highest skilled division competing against incredible athletes. My freshman year I finished 3rd in the region. My sophomore year I won the regional championship and got both the team and first place individual awards. I was sent to Chicago to compete in Nationals and placed 7th. A far cry from the backyard ponies and small barn I have now but wow...what a ride. Today I am lucky if I ride once a month but I love seeing them in the morning, taking the occasional trail ride, and watching their breath in the cold air on a frigid winter morning. They are magical creatures for me.

19.) I have 2 college degrees, have a decent career at IBM, have a family of my own and I still can't do my own taxes. I have decided that you just gotta let some things go and resign yourself to writing a check. That is how I justify our cleaning lady too. :-)

20.) I was once on an airplane with the 1977 Yankees and have always loved watching sports. However, I never got the whole college sports thing until I moved South. Whoa! You should be at our house when NC State loses....brrrrr.

21.) I like to dance in the kitchen with my husband even when there is no music. He is my other half and complements me and I love that our children see this and smile. Some day they will roll their eyes at us. Sunday mornings we listen to jazz, drink our coffee, and do a few laps around the house. I wouldn't trade those times for anything.

22.) We named our 3 cats after characters in Battlestar Galactica. Yes, I am a computer geek who likes Science Fiction. Shhhh. Oh, you want to know their names? Starbuck, Boomer and Kasey. Kudos to anyone who can post what character was named Kasey (hint: the character is only in a few episodes of the new version of the series and our spelling may not match).

23.) I hate to shop. Gasp...there, I said it. I love the internet since I can do all my shopping there, compare prices, get free shipping and have it delivered. I do like to shop with my Mom....I know she loves it so therefore I enjoy it for her.

24.) I can't go a day without listening to music. It soothes me and refreshes as much as the trees and the air.

25.) I'm a terrible cook. I make a hot meal every night but just do the easy stuff since I have no patience for complex recipes and sauces from scratch. Isn't that why they make the jarred stuff? I also have no imagination or creativity for a pinch of this and a dab of that type of stuff. I totally respect and admire those that can do it all. I can't and I'm okay with that.