In the midst of our adoption process I had a friend ask if I’d be willing to help out a couple that had written a book about their adoption. Turns out the wife attended my alma mater – John Brown University. Since I was doing the site pro bono, I started off with a template and made some adaptions and changes. This was one of my favorite projects to work on. (2008)

There’s the 7 things about you meme floating around but in honor of it being my 34th birthday you get an extra treat – 34 things about me – way more than you ever wanted to know. Let’s see if I can surprise even those of you who know me really well. I’m digging REALLY deep here.

1. I’ve always loved to write – ever since I was little. I would write little love notes for my dad and leave them in his sock drawer. I would love to discover one of these someday.
2. When I was little I used to pretend to be asleep (when I was really only 1/2 a sleep) in the car if we were coming back from somewhere late at night so my dad would carry me in the house and put me to bed.
3. I remember thinking that my brother Brad was mom’s favorite child at some point. He’s the good one – kept his room neat, more obedient, blah blah.  Of course she set me straight quickly.
4. Somehow my oldest brother got firecrackers and there was a couple nights when the 3 of us snuck out Phil’s window, ran around the corner and set them off behind one of those utility boxes. We were WILD! (J/K)
5.We went on umpteen family vacations – usually driving – and I would be stuck between my 2 brothers in the backseat. And I would complain that their hairy legs were touching mine and making me itch. Yewww!
6. I am “the strong-willed child” that Dr. Dobson wrote about – or so I was told about a hundred times growing up.
7. I always got good grades in school, admittedly without too much effort. I was always really quick on my assignments and thus never had too much homework.
8. Math, however, was not my strong suit. I got my first ever D on a geometry test in 9th grade. I think I cried.
9. Oh yeah, and I’m bad at foreign languages. Took a year of French and, with a LOT of work, managed a B- I think. Maybe a C.
10. For all my brains and smarts I AM NOT the kid in English Lit who comes up with all the deep meaning behind what the author wrote. Or can ponder the writings of Aristotle. My brain just doesn’t work that way. College Honors Visual/Aural Arts (music, lit and history) was the hardest class I took and again, I think I scraped a C in that – and was actually happy!
11. Besides my husband I only ever had one serious boyfriend, and one summer fling. Mark was the 3rd guy I ever kissed.
12. I knew when I was 16 that I was going to marry him. It took him a little longer to figure out  but that’s too be expected right?
13. My first job ever was at Burger King when I was 15. I have had a job of some sort ever since that time. When I’m done with my current part time job on June 30th it will be the first time I haven’t had a job, or had one lined up to start soon. Well, of course the whole motherhood thing.
14. Probably TMI but yes, I waited until I got married to have sex and so did my husband. I’m pretty proud of that fact. Especially considering the older I get the more I realize that while most of my friends were raised the same way, a large portion of them didn’t wait – something every one of them regrets now.
15. Crappiest job I’ve ever had – washing pots and pans in the cafeteria in college. It was a 3 hour shift twice a week and it was gross. And just when you’d be almost to the bottom of the pile they’d bring more. You were never done, you just left when your shift was up. But if it was this common bond that started my friendship with Kristen – and 16 years later we are still the best of friends.
16. I LOVE to read and I read fast. Like yesterday I finished a 320 page book (Beyond Tuesday Morning by Karen Kingsbury) in about 5 hours. I’m slower with non-fiction stuff.
17. I am a news junkie. Seriously! I read the news headlines online at least 5 times a day. Of course I was a journalism major so that explains it a little. However I don’t watch much TV news, sadly because A lot of it I don’t want my children hearing. A 7yr old and 4yr old do not need to hear about the things that are typically covered in the 5 o’clock news. Amen!
18. I am a total over-achiever, take charge kind of gal. This is sometimes good, sometimes bad.
19. While I’m not a total klutz, I’m not super athletic. I played some basketball in high school, a couple year of softball in jr. high. I played soccer in 6th grade which I really liked. I ran track too – but nothing over 200m. I’m fast but don’t have much endurance, or patience for anything over that.
20. In my 34 years of existence I have lived in 12 different “houses” (counting a dorm).
21. I have been a bridesmaid 3 times and a maid of honor once. Sadly I missed Kristen’s wedding – another friend was getting married the same day and I had already agreed to be in her wedding. It is one of life’s regrets.
22. I LOVE to travel. I have been in every state in the US except Alaska. I’ve also been to Canada, Great Britain, Scotland and Germany. There are so many more places I would love to see and hope to some day.
23. Are you bored yet? Cuz I’m straining here. 34 things is a lot!
24. I went to Christian schools from K through college. Boy was it a shock to attend classes at ASU (master’s level). I about fell out of my chair the first time a professor cursed in class.
25. I LOVE to organize – me, other people. I love shows like Clean Sweep and Mission Organization.
26. I had two near-drowning experiences as a child. The first when I was 3 and I fell in the neighbor’s pool while my mom was cleaning. (She got me out quickly). The second was at slide rock when I fell in and couldn’t get out because the rocks were slippery. Okay, I wasn’t really THAT close to drowning. Maybe I should call them “scary water experiences”.
27. Probably for this reason I HATED swim lessons. Cried through them. Took me 3 sessions to pass beginning swimming. My teachers bribed me with candy bars. My mom bribed me with ice cream.
28. I can swim great but I get panicky if someone dunks me and I don’t like swimming in the ocean or a lake where I can’t see what’s in the water.
29. Probably partly because the feel of fish creep me out and I’m always wondering what’s going to brush up against my leg. When we’d go fishing (while growing up) someone else always had to get the fish off the hook. I ain’t touching them.
30. My only one true fear is snakes. I hate them. They give me the heebee geebees in a can’t-even-go-through-the-snake-exhibit-at-the-zoo kind of way.
31. Someday I want to write a book. I have no idea what about. Maybe some sort of true crime. Don’t know if it will even be any good.
32. I didn’t freak out when I turned 30.
33. The thought that I’m a year away from 35 does.
34. My two most embarrassing moments in life have to do with a straw going up my noise on a date and my bikini top coming off in front of my boyfriend. I am NOT giving more details than that.

There you have 34 things about me, probably 33 more than you really wanted to know. But it’s my day, so humor me 🙂

Our Tuesday night bedtime routine was severely detoured with a shocking discovery.

Noah (7) had written, in PERMANENT MARKER, on Natalie’s headboard. He and Natalie had been playing in her room the day before and obviously it was some elaborate "plan".

Her headboard has two sliding "doors" on either side that can create a closed off area – or slide toward the middle, open area. Inside one of those areas he had written "Entered?" with Yes and No checkboxes.

Now first you need to know that this was NOT his first offense. A few months ago he took a permanent marker and "labeled" his wood desk drawers. He received a severe scolding (including the lecture of how furniture costs money and money doesn’t grow on trees) and some dire consequences I’m sure.

So I yelled "Noah get up here now!" I obviously had the "you are SOOOO busted" tone in my voice because he scampered up them stairs pretty quick (followed by hubby).

When he realized he’d been found out he started the tears and the "I forgot", etc. etc. Mark must have realized I was close to the boiling point because he took Noah into his room while I finished putting Natalie to bed.

My fury was not just because of the disobedience. It was because of what he wrote on. The bedroom set that is in my daughter’s room belonged to my grandparents. My grandparents that I still miss desperately! The bedroom set was in their bedroom from the time they moved to Phoenix when I was young to after my Grandma Opal’s death in 2000. (Grandpa died years earlier.)

Besides a rocking chair, the bedroom set was the one big thing I chose from their house, hoping one day I would have a little girl that would use it.

Once I had finished putting Natalie to bed Mark told me I had to go talk to Noah and give him his consequences. Mark had asked him for what he thought his consequence should be and he volunteered "No Gamecube for like a year."

I had a hard time coming up for the consequence on this one. I try to come up with what I call "natural consequences" that are somehow related to the offense. What we finally decided on was that he is not allowed to use markers, at all, for a month. And all pens and markers have to come out of his room (only pencils left) until he has shown to have better judgment. I also decided to hit him in the wallet to make him understand that he was defacing something of monetary value. So he owes me 2 weeks of allowance as well.

It seems ridiculous to cry over a piece of furniture but that’s what I did that night. I explained to Noah why it was special to me but I also had to tell him, "Yes, it’s just a piece of furniture." The fact that it is now "damaged" does not damage my memory of my grandparents. I’m not under any illusion that we’ll have that bedroom set for the next 50 years. And it wasn’t perfect – there’s a big water stain on top of the dresser that I creatively cover up.  But the emotion is what it is.