Wednesday, April 19, 2006

100 Things About Me

1. I have lived in Oklahoma all my life.
2. I spent two months in New York in 1984 on a fellowship at United Features Syndicate.
3. While I was in New York, I serialized a book written by Shari Lewis.
4. I also wrote a section of the 1985 World Almanac.
5. I was able to leave my hometown because I got scholarships to go to the University of Oklahoma.
6. I was raised by atheists. Well, my dad was an atheist. My mom went along with it even though she had belonged to the Christian Church.
7. My brother was mentally retarded and physically handicapped because of cerebral palsy.
8. In 6th grade I beat the daylights out of a much larger girl who made a horrible remark about my brother.
9. I spent many hours as a child sitting in a cedar tree reading a book.
10. I made good grades in school.
11. All of my college tuition was paid through scholarships.
12. I have been held hostage while I worked for the Department of Human Services.
13. When I worked for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, I had to take photographs in a 5-mile area around the Gore, OK, Kerr-McGee facility after a release of uranium hexafluoride.
14. After taking the photographs, the radiation detector sounded when I was scanned. It was operator error, but I nearly fainted.
15. I have no surviving family members from my nuclear family (haha – family of origin, I mean.)
16. I became a Christian when I was 17.
17. I belong to a United Methodist church.
18. I love to travel.
19. I have walked alone at night in Switzerland.
20. I have walked through the financial district of New York alone on a Sunday.
21. I spent two weeks in Washington, D.C. in 1985.
22. My father called me fat when I was in high school. I weighed 118 pounds.
23. I have had a weight problem since I graduated from college.
24. I got a sewing machine for Christmas when I was 12.
25. I made all of my own clothes from the time I was 12 until I was in my 20s.
26. I made all of my mother’s clothes during that time period.
27. I learned to drive a stick shift as soon as I got my driver’s license.
28. The first time my father rode in the car with me, I rolled backwards on a hill into a Cadillac.
29. I got my first piano when I was 4 – a player piano.
30. My piano lessons started when I was 10, until I was 17.
31. I took lessons again as an adult.
32. I love photography.
33. I have revived my interest in knitting.
34. I have high blood pressure.
35. I have worked as a nanny.
36. I earn less than the 2006 HHS Poverty Guidelines and Poverty Thresholds.
37. I like power tools.
38. Volunteer work is very important to me.
39. I wanted to be a mom.
40. I love magazines.
41. I drive a 1995 Honda Civic EX with 138,000 miles.
42. I bought my house in 1996.
43. I paid for my house in five years.
44. I have a baby grand piano.
45. I own two banjos.
46. I have a guitar.
47. I have a mountain dulcimer.
48. I have a psaltery.
49. I have a harmonica.
50. I took a class in stained glass.
51. I took three years of French in high school and 18 hours in college.
52. I cannot speak French.
53. I love my kitchen.
54. I hate to mow the yard.
55. I love gardens.
56. I was married for three years.
57. I got a wedding present from Doc Severinsen.
58. I played the piano in a Big Band for a few years.
59. I play handbells.
60. I often dream of moving to the Pacific Northwest.
61. I love to cook for friends.
62. I have high cholesterol.
63. I cannot swim.
64. I have been injured when thrown from catamarans several times and feared dying in the lake.
65. I lived with a boyfriend for six years.
66. I bought my first house when I was 25.
67. I doubt that I will ever be married again.
68. I love to grow roses.
69. I believe we are all artists.
70. I wanted to be a dietician when I was in grade school and junior high.
71. I did very well in science and math classes.
72. I spent the last two months of my mother’s life with her. It was life-changing.
73. I believe we are co-creators of our lives with God.
74. I have an amazing mind for trivia.
75. I used to write trivia quizzes for United Features Syndicate after my fellowship.
76. I hate roller coasters.
77. I love long walks.
78. I hate cigarettes and what they do to people.
79. I had a poodle for 15 years which I loved dearly.
80. I love to watch Dr. Phil.
81. I hate debt, especially credit card debt.
82. I have never held a gun.
83. I enjoy high-quality knives.
84. I have many sets of dishes.
85. I dream of living in the country.
86. I would love to have a barn.
87. I dream of owning a bed and breakfast inn.
88. I taught myself to knit when I was 10.
89. I have had eight friends and relatives killed by drunken drivers.
90. My family was very poor when I was growing up.
91. I have always felt depressed since I was in junior high.
92. I drink a lot of Diet Coke.
93. I don’t particularly like French fries.
94. I don’t care for fashion. I’m perfectly happy in blue jeans.
95. I love to watch PBS British comedies on Sunday night.
96. I like to make local road trips to shoot photo essays.
97. I like exploring new blogs.
98. I wish I was better at cleaning my house.
99. I hate mice in my house.
100. I have always had insomnia.

10 comments:

Sarabeth said...

That was very interesting. Thank you for sharing all of that.

I haven't listed it all out like you, but here's a tidbit about me from a post I made a while ago.

Trixie said...

Thanks, Sarabeth. I'm so glad you left me a link. Most I already knew just from reading your blogs -- the love for your family and your intelligence, for examples. I also hate the idiots that jump to attack someone on their mistaken stereotypes. It just shows their incapacity to think.

turtle toes said...

I've wandered over to your blog from my cousin - the other Trixie! This was very interesting to me, also. I've only been blogging for a few months, mainly for my family and friends to keep up with my four children but I love reading about other folks! Thanks for sharing!

Erudite Redneck said...

No. 73 is something I've comne to believer fairly recently. Part of my belief that Jesus ushered in the Kingdom of Heaven as the vanguard and that His followers are carriers of it, too. Something like that, anyway.

And, re the following: Snort!

14. After taking the photographs, the radiation detector sounded when I was scanned. It was operator error, but I nearly fainted.
15. I have no surviving family members from my nuclear family (haha – family of origin, I mean.)

:-)

Trixie said...

E.R., I am so glad you caught that. It was half-way for your benefit anyway! LOL!

Turtle Toes, I am very happy to have you visit. "The Other Trixie" has been a porthole for me to discover a whole world of good people in the internets. Blogs are amazing, aren't they?

Genevieve Netz said...

Wasn't that cedar tree kind of prickly? (#9) :)

Trixie said...

Actually, it was wonderful and I miss it. It was as tall as the roof of the house and the boughs curved upwards, creating the most perfect reclining chaise. "My" branch was third from the bottom of the tree and formed a Y just where my head could be cradled when I laid back on it. I could hide there and watch all the goings-on in the neighborhood. I just had to be careful not to scare the afternooon paperboy or the mailman.
The tree's boughs also perfectly spiraled up and around the tree so I could easily stair-step my way up to stand on the roof (until that time I got caught and ordered down.)
The bark on that tree was very soft and a little peel-y. And I can smell the cedar aroma even now.
It looked like a Christmas tree with a dusting of snow on it.

Genevieve Netz said...

It was surely an old cedar tree to be that big and to have strong enough limbs to climb. They can live 300 years.

I like cedar trees a lot and so do the birds and animals. Cedar berries have a very high wildlife value. And we always have bird nests in our cedars.

Anonymous said...

Your nuclear picture taking reminded me of a site that has been up for years. Want to take a motorcycle ride through a real nueclear dead zone?

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html

Trixie said...

Oh yes, Drlobojo, I've read that blog before (it's been a few years). It made an impression on me.