100 Things Meme

OK, here it is. And thanks for torturing me with this tag, Bill! This was way harder than I expected it to be.

100 Things I will Admit To:

1.) I am as old as the Superbowl.

2.) I was one of the youngest students in my graduating class, as I did not turn 18 until the January after I graduated.

3.) I won a “Write your own book” contest when I was in fifth grade. The book is still in the Township Library.

4.) Since I graduated from High School, I have held 9 different full time jobs.

5.) Since I graduated from high school, I have lived in 7 different homes.

6.) I have never lived anywhere but southeastern Pennsylvania and have no desire to live anywhere else.

7.) I am pretty good at recognizing regional accents

8.) After high school, I went straight to work in my first full time at Sperry Univac.

9.) I’ve gone to college, but only part-time at night. I never graduated.

10.) I totaled my first car a month after I got it. It was a 1974 Chevy Malibu and it was less than a mile from my house.

11.) I make terrific spaghetti sauce

12.) I have a lead foot

13.) I traded in my sports car for an SUV after I got a single speeding ticket that cost me 5 points and over $300.

14.) I basically drink only two things: water and Diet Coke

15.) When eating out, I always specify that my sandwiches should be delivered without the pickle. I believe that there is nothing worse than bread soggy with pickle juice.

16.) If a restaurant screws up my order, I will never go back.

17.) I believe Jaws was one of the greatest movies ever made

18.) I am obsessed with the TV show Lost

19.) I have waged a battle with the same 25 pounds for most of my adult life

20.) The first concert I ever saw was Styx

21.) I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for eleven years. My brand was Marlboro Lights 100’s

22.) I quit smoking twelve years ago

23.) Every now and then, I could still really go for a cigarette

24.) I prefer Coke to Pepsi. And yes, there is a difference.

25.) I’m a good cook, but an excellent baker

26.) I once sold one of my cheesecakes for $100 in an auction

27.) I was on the swim team in high school. The best I ever did was come in third in the 500 yard freestyle.

28.) I have seen Britney Spears in concert twice and really enjoyed the show both times.

29.) I’ve been engaged three times but married twice

30.) I have been married to my second husband for almost ten years.

31.) My first husband and I divorced after less than two years of marriage

32.) My first husband died three years ago from complications of diabetes.

33.) My daughter got diagnosed with diabetes four years ago

34.) I am an excellent waitress

35.) I have read the entire Harry Potter series

36.) I have read the entire Twilight series

37.) I have read just about every book by Nora Roberts since she quit writing Harlequin romances

38.) I believe that dark chocolate is the perfect food

39.) I’ve been a registered Republican since I was old enough to vote

40.) My grandfather was a prominent Philadelphia Democrat. He was city manager under Mayor Tate

41.) My sister, brother and I all got married in 1999

42.) I am the oldest of five siblings

43.) The only bone I have ever broken was my first knuckle on my right pointer finger.

44.) I like just about every kind of music except jazz. And by jazz, I do not mean smooth jazz, but that cacophony that sounds like seven guys playing seven different songs all at once. I hate that.

45.) Led Zeppelin is my favorite rock band of all time

46.) My taste in movies runs more toward the 18 to 35 male demographic. I hate most chick flicks and will only pay to see a movie in the theaters if there are a.) lots of quality special effects or b.) lots of explosions or c.) both.

47.) In my mind there are only two Star Treks that matter: The Original Series and The Next Generation.

48.) Picard or Kirk? Picard.

49.) I met my husband online

50.) I had a small bout with cancer in 1993

51.) I hate all seafood unequivocably. It’s not so much the taste, but the texture

52.) I love to fish

53.) The smell of cooked cabbage, Alaskan king crab legs and tuna fish makes me physically ill

54.) The only toppings I like on a pizza are the kind I can pick off. Onions slide and mushrooms hide, so if I am sharing a pie, I will draw the line at getting a half a pie with either of these toppings.

55.) I will re-read The Stand, Gone with the Wind, Lonesome Dove and The Thorn Birds every couple of years just to visit with my favorite characters.

56.) I have one daughter and two stepdaughters

57.) I have two (step) grandsons

58.) My husband and I try to get to one Penn State football game a year

59.) I have spent at least a week at the Jersey Shore every year of my life. The Jersey Shore has always felt like a second home to me.

60.) I have always had trouble instinctually identifying physical (not political) left and right. I always have to think about it—it never comes naturally.

61.) I can’t wear most types of boots because my arches and my insteps are unusually high.

62.) I hate being cold more than anything

63.) I have driven on I95 (Route 1) as far south as Key West, Florida and as far north as Boston, Massachusetts.

64.) I have only left the continent of North America twice: Once to go to Paradise Island, Bahamas and once to go to Bermuda.

65.) One of my goals is to rent an RV and drive the entire United States

66.) I would like to visit Australia before I die

67.) One of the most memorable and moving experiences of my life was my cousin’s funeral. He was a firefighter who died in the North Tower on 9-11.

68.) The scariest moment of my life was when my daughter was three and fell at day care, resulting in a concussion. When I arrived at the hospital, she was still so out of it, she did not recognize me. It was the worst feeling in the world.

69.) The proudest day of my life (so far) was the day my daughter graduated from high school

70.) The second proudest day of my life was the day my daughter got accepted to college.

71.) My husband is the love of my life. I knew it within a week of meeting him.

72.) The three people I miss the most in the world and wish were still alive are my step-father, my maternal grandmother and my paternal grandmother.

73.) I am an “empty nester” at the age of 42.

74.) I have an excellent sense of direction and I can find my way anywhere, but driving in Delaware County, Pennsylvania freaks me out

75.) Every letter to the editor I ever wrote to the Philadelphia Inquirer was published.

76.) I eat the same thing for breakfast every day: Kashi, skim milk and orange juice.

77.) I eat practically the same thing for lunch every weekday: yogurt, 10 mini pretzel twists, a Kudos bar and a Diet Coke. I have a banana as my mid-morning snack.

78.) I think variety in meals is over-rated and if I didn’t have to cook for my family, I’d probably have only ever three or four different meals for dinner for the rest of my life.

79.) I take my lunch at 2:00 everyday just so I can watch “As the World Turns.”

80.) I am a compulsive whistler

81.) I am obsessive about being prompt for appointments. I get incredibly stressed out if I am running late and I think other people being late is the most basic and blatant form of rudeness.

82.) I don’t really like to shop and try to avoid the mall whenever possible

83.) When I do shop, I like to buy things online and have them delivered to my house.

84.) I think bald guys are sexy

85.) I think any guy with long hair would look better with short hair.

86.) Back in the 80’s, people used to think I looked like Mary Lou Retton

87.) My feet always hurt

88.) Even though I have tried to be, I have come to the conclusion that I am not an “animal person”.

89.) I believe there is no excuse for bad service

90.) I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the piano

91.) I am a Pennsylvania Forest Steward

92.) I am extremely nearsighted

93.) Some of my favorite songs have the F-bomb mentioned prominently in them and I find myself marginally conflicted over this—but not enough to either stop listening or delete them from my iPod.

94.) Clutter stresses me out. Unfortunately for me, I live with two pack rats.

95.) I believe that “Revenge of the Sith” is the most heinous cinematic betrayal ever committed to celluloid.

96.) I can drive a tractor

97.) I’m a pretty decent photographer

98.) I bite my nails

99.) I instinctually understand relational databases and can manipulate and/or extract data out of just about any software program that uses them.

100.) I love to write, but what I really want to do is direct.