Six Things About Me - Weird Ones

I have been tagged to write six weird things about me. Thank you, sis! I will try to think of six, and (however unlikely) if I fail to think of these on my own, I am sure that my father and my siblings can assist.

1. Animal/Child Magnetism -
I don't know why, but children and animals seem to be drawn to me. Babies catch my attention and smile, even if they are upset before they see me. I can't tell you how many dogs have come to the house, and cats. Lost ones, or runaways. Brian gets a kick out of it, because he loves dogs and all animals, but they tend to run from him. Birds, also. I sit on the porch and have birds communicate with me. Sounds, stupid, doesn't it? But last year I had a cardinal come onto the porch and spend a great deal of time with me. There was a wren in the back yard that struck up a conversation with me. Seriously, we took turns, it looked at me, chirped and paused. Then I spoke and it cocked its head as if trying to understand. When I stopped, it began its side and continued to use patterns of speech. The owls, too. They hang out in the tree and look at me and "dance". You would have to see it, but it is also a form of communication.
When little Olivia was 2 and barely talking, she came up to me while I was transplanting some flowers. She called me "Mom" and refused to continue the walk with her dad despite his calling her. She said so much gibberish and continued this way of speaking with me. She is the neighbor down the street and now still waves energetically at me when I see her. (She is the little girl on the Avera/McKennan commercials trying to pronounce the big words. Yes, she is that adorable!)
So, there is one: Animal/Child Magnetism

2. I Hide My Chocolate - I don't buy most of my chocolate. I also don't eat most of my chocolate. At work, one of their favorite recognition devices is chocolate. (My theory is that they intend to make our hips so big we can't get out of our chairs. So there we are, stuck and guess what, we have to work there. They would probably charge us rent, too) I have chocolate in two desk drawers at work, chocolate in my bedroom drawers, desk drawers, cabinets. Half the time I don't get to it before it spoils. My chocolate-eating goes in streaks. Sometimes my stomach just can't handle it. I will go months without it. But I put it away. I hate it when I DO finally want it and it is gone - one of the house ghosts, I'm sure!!



3. Diamonds aren't my best friend. I don't see what the big deal is with diamonds. I like rubies, sapphires, emeralds, but don't get the big draw for diamonds. I like jewelry with alot of gold, but diamonds I could do without. My favorite piece of jewelry is actually a long necklace, made with a thin piece of brushed leather, a few beads and the center is a silhouette of a tribal woman dancing.



4. I get easily grossed out. No, not by Linda Purl spewing pea soup at the priest... Public restrooms literally gag me!! When we flew to Arizona, I noticed how filthy the plastic parts of the plane were. It looks like children took their gooky fingers and spread their yuck all over it. This is gagging me even talking about it!!! When one of the kids hand me a piece of something to try with their hands, I decline. I almost hate eating in restaurants because of the filth I see. If you sit by a window, look at how filthy the window is. Think about the chair that you are touching. Who touched it before? Were their hands clean? Did they wash after using the rest room? Look at your silverware. Half the time their is a piece of food stuck to at least one piece of your silverware. Glasses are dirty. They have fingerprints from the dishwasher.
Part of this easy gross out is over thinking things. Really, I am sure that we eat so much more than we actually know about. If we don't know about it, we wouldn't be grossed out. Try this one: Odors are when particles of the odoriferous material reaches the inside of our noses. Okay, think about this. Or don't. I have a sensitive nose. I have been told that if a smell is bothering me, to breathe through my mouth. And have those particles in my mouth? No Way!!!

5. I am afraid of driving long distances by myself. I don't know if it is from rolling my car when I was 16 or what. Prior to that, I could drive and it was taken for granted. I just got in the car and drove. After the accident, I realized just how quickly things could happen and I was afraid. I guess I should have gotten "back on the horse" after my accident, but I didn't drive for quite awhile. I hadn't made the first payment, so had to pay the loan off before I could buy another one. My parents weren't too keen on the idea of me driving theirs, either. When I drive long distances I am afraid of blowing a tire, or hitting some unforeseen obstacle. After I was divorced, I tried to overcome this fear. I decided that the boys and I would take a trip out of town every weekend. The first weekend we went to Dell Rapids. (Laugh if you want, this was a big step for me!!) That was it. Outside of that, I think I drove to Sioux City by myself once. In the fall of 2005 I went to Mt Frontenac by myself. I will admit that this took some very loud books on tape to do. The way back didn't help with my feelings of being safe. I drove between tornado warnings almost all the way back. The only thing that kept me going was that if I kept going forward I was getting through it. If I stopped, it was easy to see that there was possibly something worse behind it. I didn't want to stop and put it off any longer than I had to. The stress was almost worse than what could've happened. I just wanted to go home.
Oh, I also believe that another reason that I have for being afraid of driving long distances is the fact that I have recurring dreams of driving off a cliff.


6. Last, but not least is my uncanny ability to fall asleep at theaters. The first time this happened was with Mike O. He was the cat's meow in those days. I was so excited to be going out with him. We went to the drive-in in his old candy-apple red pick up. I'm not that much into cars, but I think it looked like this (minus the clouds). Anyway, I woke up after the movie was over and apologized.

I felt so bad. Unbelievably, he asked me out again. Actually we went out for quite awhile. I saw him after I moved to Sioux Falls. I don't know where I saw him, but I think I was engaged at the time and he was moving down to Phoenix soon to complete school. One of m y most romantic moments in my teenage years was spent with him. I still have his awards from his graduation. He told me to hang onto them and I kept reminding him and he said he would get them later. I should send them to him. He may have children now and this may be important to him...
Anyway, this also happened on several other dates. I kept getting asked out afterwards. The most recent movies I have slept through were Star Wars Episode 2, Harry Potter and the Ghost - oh that one about the lions! I must have started my nap before the title! These are action-packed movies. I think it must be sitting without moving for too long. At home I am a multi-tasker and something of an insomniac, so I don't sit for a movie and probably don't get enough sleep. Thus motionless sitting is almost a sure bet for a nap.