Randomness on the 30th

I am about to complete my self-imposed challenge of writing every day in January. I think I missed three days which is not too bad. I can't say I will be able to swing it in February, so my modest goal will be half the days - what is that 14? , so maybe I will aim for 20. I am fairly content with the breadth of topics covered. I have a few entries that I started, yet never posted. They aren't where I want them to be and figure they will emerge when they are ready.

I had originally planned to post a picture today of my main accomplishment yesterday - three ridiculously heaping baskets of laundry. I just wanted my kids to see, visualize, the ridiculousness of their laundry amounts one day when they read my blog. Obviously, they don't yet appreciate it now. My top priority now is to work on recycling clothing rather than dumping it in the hamper after donning it for 5 minutes. Ethan can do this. Lily can do this. Sadie, well, she is still quite the mess maker with her clothes, so maybe it will be a bit more challenging. But, for some reason, the card from the camera wasn't registering with my laptop and so, no pic for now.

Brings me to another point. We got a new camera and I am STOKED! It is the new Cannon Rebel which is a little bit smaller in size than our previous one, but is an astounding 12.2 megapixels. We moved the old Rebel to work as the office needed a better camera for product shots (a pathetic justification for the purchase). I can't fathom all that this camera offers and have much reading to do. It is a fast taking digital and should take my marginal-at-best photography to a whole new level. Well, I can hope.

Ethan is still home. Time to head to the doctor to make sure this is nothing serious. Post entry - it is strep. Boo hoo!

A bit of a crazy weekend for me. I am taking Sadie to the American Heritage Girls' sleepover at church tonight. Should be somewhere around 70 girls from K - 5th grade. We are going to earn our "dance" badge and watch "Kit Kitteridge". I can't quite imagine the amount of screaming and squealing that might occur. I am hoping for some interesting blog fodder to result.

To counter balance this time in young girl land, I have decided to go to a rock show Saturday night to do my own bit of screaming. I think it has been 10 years or so since I last went to something like this. Maybe I should take earplugs. I am old, what can I say.

I have started reading "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas. As I read compelling thoughts and challenging ideas, I will post them here. The tag line of the book reads, "What if God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?" Should be a good, but more likely, convincingly painful read.

And, finally, to complete the title appropriately, I am including in this post my 25 Random Things About Me from facebook. I have a feeling this blog may last longer than my foray into facebook and want to have it documented. I have lived a very blessed life. Here it is:

1. I love my friends. I have some of the best and most supportive people in my life and feel very undeserving of them.
2. I like fall, Ocracoke Island, dark chocolate, Dutch cheese, Belgian beer, coffee, singing loudly in my car, Sudoku, and my Miss Piggy t-shirt.
3. I dislike seafood (all of it), snakes, squirrels, winter (I randomly gag when really cold), tequila, baked beans, lake water with slimy bottoms and being scared (scary movies, haunted houses – especially the chainsaw – ack!)
4. I like relationships that are real. We all have issues, trials, no one is perfect. Why try to be something you are not? Why try to hide who you really are?
5. I was on the debate team in high school and LOVED it. Even went to debate camp in the summers. Just call me a geek.
6. I have a freakish fear of steep inclines – and falling down them.
7. Because of #6, I can’t deal with driving up or down in the mountains. I had a near anxiety attack driving the Cascades in WA and felt like I was going to drive off the unbarricaded side at any moment when going only 10 mph.
8. With the exception of about 8 years, I have lived in High Point my entire life. Where else do you live when your dad is a furniture designer?
9. I married a first generation immigrant from the Netherlands who came to the US as a high school exchange student.
10. I worked as an au pair, a.k.a. nanny, with four children in Groningen, The Netherlands right after graduating from UNC with a degree in American Studies (see the irony?)
11. My husband and I didn’t meet during either of those years. Instead, we met many years later through a church in Asheboro, NC.
12. By the age of 22, I had worked at SubCity (yes, by the adult bookstore on S. Main), Noble’s restaurant (most expensive in HP), a teller at Old Stone Bank during every summer and holiday breaks during college , retail clothing (various), the Sears Call Center as a repair appointment operator, and nanny (see #10). Oh, and I donated plasma…once.
13. I love to write. I find it very therapeutic for my over-analyzing self. To make money doing it would be icing on the cake.
14. I have a tattoo of part of a Matisse, which unfortunately, has morphed a bit due to 3 large pregnancies. Ugh!
15. I lost 45 pounds about 5 years ago and have kept it off.
16. I can not handle being yelled at or criticized unfairly. It tears at my soul. Likewise, I hate to make any feel uncomfortable about who they are.
17. I traveled with my three small children, alone, from Europe which included 3 countries, 3 flights, 3x 8 shoe removals, 3 bus transfers, 2 lost bags, 1 stolen PSP and 1 3-hour tarmac delay. I have no real memories of the trip, only random flashbacks.
18. I have my dream scrapbook/craft room, but don’t enjoy working in it alone, therefore don’t use it nearly as often as I would like.
19. I lost my best friend and sister, Ansley, to breast cancer at age 37 which is my current age. Life has not been the same since. I miss her terribly, still. I had a “very concerning” breast cancer scare in August which resulted in 2 biopsies. It was benign! But, I have a 25% chance of having bc in my lifetime which I try to view as my way of getting an “upgrade.”
20. When I was young, my pretend play was as a talk show or informational show host.
21. Sometimes I talk so much that I am embarrassed afterward. I do this A LOT. I know I have a problem.
22. I am a “scanner” which means I want to know about everything, yet, can’t commit to anything, nor am I deeply knowledgeable about anything. I am a dabbler of sorts.
23. I hitchhiked and backpacked my way through southern Africa – including Zimbabwe, S. Africa, Botswana and Zambia.
24. In high school, I drove my 1979 black Ford pick-up with no power steering, no power brakes, no power anything for that matter, and only an AM radio into a lake. I am not kidding.
25. I am a Jesus Freak.

What is random for you today? Let me know.