Sunday, January 6, 2008

Tagged for my Weirdness

Angie tagged me for this meme and it's a rather neat one, in my opinion. Although I fear that many of you will walk away saying, "Holy Crap, the girl is nuts. But I'm going to do it anyway.

The rules are for me to link to the person who tagged me, list 7 weird (I prefer to think charmingly quirky) things about myself and then tag 7 others to play along. And also, most importantly, let them know they have been tagged. In advance, thank you Angie, this is a wonderful idea which will keep my mind off of things for awhile.

Here goes:

1. I must, absolutely must, check my alarm clock 3 times each night or I just know it won't go off in the morning. Seriously...I've tested it. You call it neurotic, I call it cute. But it drove my husband nuts...

2. I am a massive pyrophobiac. When Nik was 3, we lived in a mobile home. The heat tape caught the insulation (nonflammable...my butt) on fire and if I hadn't left work early and woke my husband up when I came in the door, I shudder to think what would happen. Since then, I check the stove, the coffee pot, the furnace (because, stupidly, the laundry chute is right next to it), and anything else that might be fire causing, before leaving the house and/or going to bed.

3. I still read (and re-read and read yet again) Beverly Cleary books. I love them. And they are also a wonderful memory of my childhood which tends to calm me when I am stressed out and sick of playing at being an adult.

4. I have double jointed thumbs and can hook them back behind my hands, which I do to freak my son the heck out.

5. I have no problem leaving the house in my pajamas. I think back to my younger years when I couldn't leave the house without being in full fashionable mode (makeup, hair and outfit) and this blows my mind.

6. I don't know if this qualifies for weird but my mother and I don't like each other very much. We tolerate each other but we are truly from different worlds.

and

7. When my daughter was born I was only 19. I was ambivalent about it at first and actually told my father that, if I still felt this way when she was born that I would give her up for adoption because I didn't feel it would be fair to a child to raise them just because I gave birth to them. Of course, she rocked my world when she was born, we literally grew up together and I couldn't imagine having ever given her away...troubles and all.

Those are my 7. What are yours, Rebecca, Woli, Jeanette, Heather, Sharpie, Jess T, and Courtney?

This was harder to do than I thought. I guess I am more normal than I thought. /sarcasm.

We did end up going to Windsor last night for dinner. We went to The Tunnel BBQ and, oddly, four of Nik's old classmates (boys that have graduated) were seated right next to us. Odd until you realize the drinking age in Canada is 19 and these boys were celebrating the 19th birthday of one of them.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

God, I used to love Beverly Cleary books. LOVE. I've been thinking about how great it will be to re-read them when my daughter is old enough, but now I'm thinking "why wait?". Do you have one particular favorite?

Cherry said...

I totally fear house fires as well. I think it has to do with our previous place where I came home to fire trucks and ambiances because a couple squabbled in the car and ran their car into the gas line for our condo building, and our unit was the one right above. Ever since then, shared walled structures scare me (and we're in one now).

I'm glad you got out and drove on up to Windsor last night. BBQ sounds pretty tasty right now!

Rach said...

I reread the "Anne of Green Gables" books to destress. I get to read Beverly Cleary to my students. :o)

Hannah was a HUGE pyrophobe, bless her heart. She would have these awful night terrors about the house burning up with her in it, and B and me leaving her to die. It breaks my heart that she had those dreams.

Laura said...

Shelly--Ellen Tebbits is my favorite. I, many times, felt like Ellen in my childhood. Although my major falling out with a girlfriend happened in high school, I could still relate to the feeling.

Cherry---The best thing about this restaurant is that the sauces are on the table so you can choose whether you want spicy or sweet. My tummy can't handle spicy so I went with the honey based and it was delicious.

RachD--It must be wonderful to reintroduce those stories to students each year. I had a 4th grade teacher who read us "Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing" and forever after,whenever I read a Judy Blume book, I heard her voice in my head. It is so hard when our kids voice their fears; the ones we can't really ease for them. I am afraid I'm passing this fear on to my son.

Anonymous said...

Ok, I admit it. I have some obsessive compulsive habits too.

I also lived in a mobile home years ago - when the youngest 2 were babies & just before the advent of smoke detectors. I was absolutely terrified of fire because whenever you read of a fire in one (which was often) the entire home was destroyed -- usually with fatalities. They were tinder boxes, imo, with all the wood panelling & varnishes. I was sure glad to move out.

Laura, I lived near the other connection between Ontario & Michigan - The BlueWater Bridge connected the two: Port Huron & Point Edward/Sarnia. We did lots of Sunday shopping.

I hope your day went well,
haylee

Laura said...

haylee, we actually favor the Blue Water Bridge over the Tunnel or the Ambassador, because it's a nicer drive. His aunt has a summer cottage on Lake Huron, just north of Grand Bend, and we often went that way to visit her.

For a Sunday, my day went okay. I hope you had a nice weekend.

Unknown said...

That was great. I do pajamas in public too. I love pajamas. I'll admit I hesitated for a second over the tag. Then I kicked myself in the butt, cuz you deserve to have some fun!! Also, I really wanted to hear your 7, and I figured if you didn't feel like doing it you wouldn't!
Looking forward to the future coffee date

Anonymous said...

I lived on the street parallel to the one leading to the bridge. It took me a while to get used to all the big rigs crossing during the night but we moved into Sarnia after about 6 months.

We had relatives that lived near Detroit (Sterling Heights) and I HATED driving anywhere near that city (sorry to an Detroiter's out there)-- I was so terrified of what I heard on the nightly news that I would have loved to hide in the glovebox.

As it was, I went into the back seat with the little ones and we all kept our heads down. True story.

Coming from a small town on an island in the North Atlantic, it was a kinda culture shock I guess.

Jess T said...

This could be a tough one. :) I'll see what I can come up with. It is hard to see the strange in yourself. :)

Shari said...

I just did a weird/random meme the other day. It takes a lot of thinking, doesn't it?

I used to love Beverly Cleary books. Have you ever heard about Junie B. Jones books? Those are cute, too. My daughter loves to read those.

Courtney said...

I will do these once I figure out what 7 weird things are worth posting...lol.

Nance said...

I just bought all the Ramona books a few years ago. I still read them every once in a while. That is some of the best irony in the world.