I've been tagged

My sweetheart!






So, my dear friend Katherine tagged me to 8 random things about myself...Thanks K!!

Here's the rules:
1. Post these rules.
2. List eight random facts about yourself.
3. If you're tagged, do the same thing on your blog.
4. At the end of your post, tag 8 people.


Number 1:
My earliest clear memory is when I was four years old and my mom came up to my room crying. She had just gotten a phone call that her dad had died. I remember sitting on my bed, where the bed was, and what blanket was on it. I remember her sitting down and crying. I even remember being confused and scared that mom was crying. I do have faint snapshot memories of my grandpa before he died, so I know this isn't my very first memory, but it's the first one that has this much detail to it. Mom held me and cried and told me that grandpa had died. I remember patting her arm and just letting her hold me. It's amazing what a child keeps in their head. My family laughs that I have the worst memory of anyone. I don't remember much of childhood (and if you keep reading you'll see why!!) but the things I do remember are many times very random and very vivid.

Number 2:
I have had stitches five times...four of them in my head. I have a half-moon on my forehead where my brother threw a pipe at me when I was two. It is also one of my earliest memories...I remember seeing blood. Then I split my lip open on a chair when I was just a baby, I did a back flip off the side of the pool when I was 10 and split open the back of my head, I caught my chin on the side of the pool when I was 8, and #5 was my sister slamming my thumb in the sliding door of the van so hard that she actually chipped the end o my bone. Thanks Kara!! To which, my mom told me to stop crying so I could enroll in girl scouts. However, after we got home and she saw all the blood streaming down my arm and my exposed tissue...she decided that maybe I needed stitches. I think I was about 10. By the way, my mom was (and still is) an adult ICU nurse who adopted the attitude...I've seen worse!! Actually, I think by the time of my thumb accident she was just so sick of taking me in to get stitches that she hoped by ignoring it I would just heal spontaneously. This is also the mom who tried to tie hairs together over the split in my head to hold the gaping wound together. I don't know, maybe our insurance was bad. Neither my sister or brother have had any kind of broken bone or stitches. I was most definitely the expensive child. Broken arm (five years old and I purposely climbed to the very top cross bar on the swing set and just jumped...I must have thought I could fly), stitches five times, glasses by the fourth grade, and of course braces. I'm dreading the ER visits with my kids...I'm sure they're coming!

Number 3:
I've had my leg almost cut off by a chainsaw. My brother turned suddenly and swiped my thigh when I was 13. Thankfully he had just cut the engine and the blade wasn't spinning full blast. Otherwise, my life would look very different today!! He swears it was an accident. Right Ben, just like the pipe!! The scar on my right thigh became a reference point for my dad on how short my shorts could be. They had to at least come down to the scar!

Number 4:
I love to paint. When I was in high school I painted an 8 by 20 foot mural on the inside wall of a factory in my home town. Unfortunately, over the years I haven't had time to dedicate to it so I haven't painted anything in a long while. I would desperately love to pick it up again, but who knows when that will happen. It's just like the piano...I would love to play again, but alas, who has the time?

Number 5:
I kissed Jason 2 hours into our first date. Most guys would have loved that...but I think Jason was a little weirded out. So I was bold...I knew what I wanted!! I also called my mom the next day and told her I had met the man I was going to marry. Jason never had a chance!!

Number 6:
I chomp my teeth in my sleep. After Jason and I got married he told me that I chomp my teeth very hard in the middle of the night. I now wear a mouth guard to protect my teeth. I used to always wake up with sore jaws, but not any more. By the way, Jason talks in his sleep...we've had some pretty interesting conversations!

Number 7:
I took ballet and gymnastics for 7 years and tap for one year when I was a kid. But, when I got to middle school, my parents made me choose, dance or sports. Looking back I think I would have rather chosen dance. I may not have fit in as well at school, but I would be in a lot better shape today if I had stuck with the ballet. Plus, I might have better posture. I truly do not remember anything about dance. And, I think if I tried to do a round-off back handspring I would break my neck. They used to always be my favorite. By the very end I had worked up to round-off back flips. That was such an exciting day when I did my first back flip...but, basketball, volleyball and track became my new calling!! I think I can still do a cartwheel!!

Number 8:
I can't stand it when someone folds a piece of paper and uses their fingernails to flatten the crease. It absolutely makes me want to crawl out of my skin. In group report in the morning at work, people are always folding their paper and using their fingernails on it. I have to make them stop, I simply cannot tolerate it. It's like nails on a chalkboard to me. I know it's bizarre, but I can't help it.

I don't have 8 people to tag. Sarah and Katherine are two, and they're already tagged. So, I tag anyone who has a blog who reads this blog...tag, you're it!!
Valerie