100 Things about Lilymane (and Tribe)

1. I self-identify as Southern even though I was born in Queens, NYC and was raised by parents from Southern California (which is not to be confused with being raised in Southern California by queens from NYC - although that would have been waaaaaay more interesting.)
2. I'm terrible at questionaires because either my answer isn't one of the offered options or I have two answers and only one blank.
3. I am an and/both kinda gal.
4. I love seafood.
5. I always want to know the story behind the author or artist - but I could care less about the love lives of Hollywood stars.
6. I went to an all-girls' school for seven years.
7. Then I joined the Navy.
8. That was a VERY big change.
9. I am not bi-cola. When they ask what kind of Coke I want (which they do in the South), I say "Coke". Pepsi is not alright with me.
10. I wore red glasses just like Buckaroo Bonzai's.
11. I loved them.
12. I didn't skip a class until I was a junior in college.
13. I called my dad long distance to tell him I was skipping.
14. He called me a nerd (ummm, or perhaps he used the word 'egghead') and hung up on me.
15. I have five children - three by giving birth to them and two the "easy" way by getting divorced (i.e. having my soul shredded) and remarrying a fabulous single dad.
16. I LOVE being a mama.
17. My oldest (one of my obtained the 'easy' way ones) is Bug - he's 15. Egad! Driving soon.
18. My next oldest (the one I birthed first) is Chaos - he's 13. 'Nuff said.
19. Oh - here's a good place to mention that red hair was so prevalent in my family tree that it didn't skip for seven generations. Until my generation that is.
20. Chaos has red hair.
21. Mayhem (= birthed son #2) is blond and blue eyed and wants to grow up to be a dwarf.
22. Mayhem is famous for (at age 4) saying that he liked swords, but he LOVED axes. (He's 11 now and is a natural fencer - we're discouraging the axe thing.)
23. The Ninja Princessa (the second of the easily obtained ones) is my only girl. At 10, she loves Harry Potter (yay!) and shopping (eeek!) She is writery and dramatic. We like that about her. (Mostly.)
24. Havoc (= birthed son #3) is also blond and blue eyed. We call him Mr. Enthusiastic - he's a doll. He's also freaking brilliant. We have no idea where that came from.
25. I am not having any more children.
26. I believe in the whole village concept though, so I certainly plan to help raise a few more.
27. I fully intend to live to be 100+.
28. I have known six out of eight of my great-grandparents and all of my grandparents - I'm grateful to have the long-life gene thing going for me.
29. I completed my first triathlon (a decade after I started training for it).
30. I didn't lose a single pound doing it. What's up with that??
31. I completed my degree in French Literature (13 years after I started it.)
32. I may have completion issues.
33. I have a thing for rocks. Diamonds are ok - but I really prefer granite.
34. I am a complete klutz - on land.
35. I am exquisitely graceful - in water.
36. I am an ardent feminist.
37. I LOVE NFL football.
38. Those last two are difficult for me to reconcile.
39. I am allergic to most perfumes.
40. I am a cat person.
41. I have a dog. A cute dog. Who feels like a cat. Who acts like a dog . Who looks like a rug.
42. I like LOTS of ice in my drinks. In fact, the ice is the point of the beverage for me.
43. Um, except tequila. I don't put ice in that. Corralejo (Reposado - the one in the gorgeous tall blue bottle) - that's a tequila to sip - sans ice.
44. Although - I suppose margaritas are tequila over ice - and I like those a LOT. So ignore 43 (but I'm not going to take it out because 100 is hard enough to get to even though I'm cheating by putting in things about the Sweet Hubby, my Very Best Girlfriend, and the kids and the dog for heaven's sake!)
45. Sweet Hubby! Sweet Hubby= SH=Top Dog. I married a younger man. Ok - he's only one year younger. And half the time he forgets which one of us is older. Still. I'm just saying...
46. S.H. has beautiful bluey green/brown eyes - like river water. With sunlight sparkling on it.
47. S.H. is in I.T. (Hmmmmm.)
48. Gads - I'm not even half way there yet! Who came up with the number 100 anyway?
49. My Very Best Girlfriend=VBGF=The Love Piranha (don't ask me, she had that nick name before I knew her) is a younger woman. Ok - she's only six months younger, but she brings it up a LOT.
50. VBGF has beautiful bluey blue/blue eyes - like crazy, freaking gorgeous blue water found in the Caribbean next to Islands of Paradise. We try not to hate her for this.
51. VBGF is a 7th grade math teacher.
52. Chaos is in 7th grade.
53. VBGF lives in a whole 'nother state and therefore is NOT Chaos' math teacher - but we compare notes a LOT.
54. Harry Potter and I have the same birthday.
55. My cool points with the kids went WAY up when they found this out.
56. I LOVE trees, real trees.
57. Not Bradford pears. Bradford pears are the American cheese of trees.
58. Speaking of cheese, I LOVE cheese. (But not American cheese because it's icky.)
59. I used to have purple hair.
60. It wasn't against my high school's rules. Until I did it. I got amnesty but they changed the handbook.
61. I don't have purple hair anymore. Now it's red.
62. I used to wear safety pins in the corner of my mouth (hey, it was the 80's).
63. I don't do that anymore.
64. Now I have a pierced lip.
65. I guess I haven't evolved so much.
66. Speaking of evolution - I'm all for it. Intelligent design is veeeeery interesting (if you define 'interesting' as 'dumb as a bag of hair'.)
67. I'm also pro-choice.
68. I'm also attached to the concepts of social justice, clean, healthy environments, and equality.
69. I'm a 'blue' (not to be confused with either 'cold-to-the-point-of-near-death' or 'sad') girl living in a 'red' (easily confused with 'right-wing, oppressive, theocratic') state.
70. I'm not political.
71. I have a security blanket. Like Linus.
72. I like books. I love books. I heart books. I want more books. I am not a good candidate for a library card. I am pathologically unable to return books to the library ever (forget on time.)
73. I think all life changing moments should happen on the beach.
74. I LOATHE, DESPISE, and HATE the Dallas Cowboys.
75. I'm not terribly fond of the whole state of Texas.
76. Except I like Mary Kay. She was a cool frood. (Even if the pink cadillac thing is odd.)
77. I was on a plane to Tokyo when Emperor Hirohito's death was announced.
78. I went to the Tobermory Highland games when I was 15.
79. I learned (the embarassing way) that 'cider' in Scotland is not the same as the apple cider we have in the States. No wonder it tasted so good.
80. I was in Rome on Epiphany in 1985 when it snowed.
81. My classmates and I had a snowball fight with a bunch of Roman boys before our audience with Pope John Paul II. The snowball fight was pictured in an over head shot in Nat'l Geographic. I'm famous! That's me - the aqua dot right there.
82. I'm not catholic.
83. I went to catholic school for three years (before the all girls' school.)
84. Did you know that they make the non-catholic kids scrub the bird poop off of the statue of the Virgin Mary's head the day before May Day so when the catholic kids process up with their little flower wreaths singing "Oh Mary we crown thee with blossoms today; Queen of the angels, queen of the May" they don't have to lay them upon a pile of guano? Ah, the things I learned at catholic school....
85. My family belonged to the JCC (Jewish Community Center) when I was a kid.
86. My family was never even close to being Jewish. My mother was raised Christian Scientist and became an Episcopalian. My father was raised Southern Baptist, so naturally, by the time I was around, he had become an atheist. No Jewish grandmothers or anything. Can't explain the JCC choice - but it was lovely and they had a great pool.
87. Bowling with the Lutherans was fun.
88. I picked up more mixed messages about religion than I did about sex.
89. And that's saying something.
90. My father told me when I was a teenager that he would obtain any drug I wanted to experiment with. And he would sit there and watch me try it. That way I'd know the difference between a fun drug and a party atmosphere. He also told me that if I did any experimenting with drugs in a party atmosphere instead of with him in a decidedly not-party atmosphere and I got caught and sent to jail, not to waste my one phone call calling him, because he'd leave my ass in jail.
91. I didn't do any drugs whatsoever.
92. I drank like a fish, but no drugs. No way. Nope. Way too scary. (My dad was waaaaayy too scary.)
93. I don't watch tv shows. Only football.
94. I am passionate about art quilting. I will bore the crap out of you if you let me get started talking about art quilts.
95. I don't care which side of the bed I sleep on.
96. I also don't care which way the toilet paper roll faces (as long as there is some tp, I'm cool.)
97. I have a hard time believing people get worked up over that kind of thing.
98. However, it drives me batshit when people (big or small people) touch the stuff on my desk.
99. I love reading the dictionary (but I don't admit that often - I must be scraping the bottom of the barrel).
100. I am unbelievably perky and insufferably awake at 5 am. I am usually exceedingly asleep after 9 pm. Don't know what's up with tonight.

There you have it. A century of enlightening and useless facts about the dwellers of Lilymania.

Peace.