5 Things

Billie Jo tagged me to tell 5 things most people don't know about me. Really, if you just read Billie Jo's... mine is just the same!

Let's see...

1. I have a 'thing' about floors.   Shoes have to be off.  And I hate when kids run around in the spring and summer with bare feet outside and then come in the house and walk all over the carpet with filthy feet.  Even playing in flip flops bugs me.  Socks and sneakers to play outside.  In the summer I keep a basket of clean socks for the girls in the mudroom so that there are no excuses to play outside without covered feet.   Oh, I cringe when other kids come over to play and their summer feet are black with dirtiness and then that's all over my carpet.  I have to do everything I can to not take some wipes and clean their feet as they walk in the door.  It's hard to not do that I tell you.  :)  I wash my kitchen floor by hand constantly.  I told you.. it's a weird thing.  I used to want to change; not care when someone came over with muddy shoes but I've realized that I'll never change.  All I can think about when someone has their shoes on in my house is were those shoes in a public restroom today?  Need I say more?  Yuck! 

2.  I have a thing for pillowcases too.  I change pillowcases (for all of us) daily.  Weird, but I love a crisp, clean pillowcase.

3.  Umm.. I'm trying to think of something not so clean related.  I can't so feel free to stop reading anytime.  I like things in their places.  "Everything has a place; everything in it's place" is my motto when it's time to tidy up at the end of the day.  And yes, don't call putting the zoo animals in the zoo animals bin "cleaning".  That's called tidying.  Cleaning... if you want to see cleaning I tell my girls just watch Mommy CLEAN the toilets, scrub the floor, dust, wipe, vacuum.  Putting toys away is not cleaning.  Once again I've tried to change on this one but I've decided to see it as an asset.  When my girls go to bed with "everything in it's place" they wake up in a more peaceful environment.  Their rooms look "just so" as my Grandma used to say.  And when they come into their playroom with "everything in it's place" it's a more welcoming "come and play" invitation.  It makes us all happier I've found.   I blame (well not really blame because I like it this way) it all on my Grandma and my Mom.  My mom's house is so clean that when I'm over there I marvel at her frig.  (and then come home and clean mine)

4.  We traveled a lot in the summer when I was growing up.  My Dad; he has an adventure spirit.  And my Mom she always went with a smile.  On the last day of July our van was always packed with a pop up camper and off we went all across the great USA.  And I'm grateful, oh so grateful for my parents showing us so much of our country.  We didn't have a lot of money but somehow I never knew and they made it work.  Those are my happiest childhood memories.  All of us together in our brown station wagon.  I had my baby doll Jenny and her change of clothes, baby bottles;  I had everything I needed. 

5.  There must be something else about me... thinking... maybe I'll tell you about Scott.  We met in High School.  Well, actually I knew him way back in grade school.  He lived down the hill from me.  But in high school I noticed him for the first time.  He didn't notice me at all.  :)  It wasn't until a class trip to Spain when I switched around the plane tickets at the airport so that I could sit next to him and pretend I was afraid of flying that he sort of started noticing me too.  We were just 15.  And yes, I made it all the way till 16 and could say "sweet sixteen and never been kissed" because he was just so nervous to kiss me.  I waited for months and months and months for that first peck on the cheek.  But for that (and all of the other waiting we did) I'm grateful.  Those were sweet, sweet, days.  Just babies we were; holding hands walking down the hallway and under the lunch table at school.  We went off to separate colleges, states away from each other without texting, phones in our rooms, emailing, or anyway to talk.  So we had a special time to talk once a week late at night on the payphone in the hallway.  I'd stand there and wait for it to ring.  And the letters, we wrote to each other every single day for two years.  Love letters those are I tell you.  Awesome love letters. 


(I have boxes and boxes and boxes of these letters)  (The one on the right is my grandmothers handwriting... I'm off to go read that now)

One day Anna and Abigail will get a kick out of reading them.  And then after two years of that he transferred to the college I was... yeah! 

So there ya go... how'd I do Billie Jo? 

Oh I had to tell you what that letter from my Grandma said... so lovely.

Hi Honey! 

Just want to tell you how much we enjoyed "Anyone can Whistle" (I was in a musical in college) You were just great.  We could see you really enjoyed doing it. 

Your room is very nice.  Just like a girls room and how fortunate you are to be alone. 

Do hope you had a nice weekend with Robert (a boy I date briefly, very, very briefly in my first year of college) and I'm sure he enjoyed the play as well as we did.

Grampa and I are going out to dinner tonite.  We have a gift certificate to spend from our party (it was their 50th wedding anniversary party)

Do well Tara and we'll see you Thanksgiving.

Love Gram

Don't ya just love that?  Boy I had forgotten all about that musical I was in; that my grandparents came; that I dated Robert (for like a day or something), and that she sent me letters to college.