75 Things About My Life

1) I love going to the zoo, any zoo.
2) It bugs me when parents at the zoo don't tell the children the actual name of the animal they are looking at. If it's a gorilla please don't call it a big monkey. If you don't want to call it a gorilla at least call it an ape, monkeys have tails.
3) When I hear people telling their kids the wrong name I usually (very loudly) announce to my kids "Hey girls look at the GORILLAS".
4) My kids can tell you most any animals name, if it's a carnivore or not, and most of it's behaviors.
5) On the second day of kindergarten Aidan's class was reading the Kissing Hand and in the story the raccoon goes to school at night. Her teacher asked the kids if they knew why and Aidan is the only one who raised her hand. She replied "UH, because he's a raccoon and they are nocturnal." in her "duh" voice. Her teacher asked her what that meant and she said "It means they sleep during the day and are awake at night." All while rolling her eyes.
6) Aidan is going to be trouble. Scratch that. She IS trouble.
7) I have trouble accepting when people lack common sense and I think I am being punished for this, since Lilly lacks a lot of common sense.
8) I am a lot like my dad.
9) One of my mom's sisters calls me Rick Jr.
10) I have a very dirty mind.
11) I have a sick sense of humor.
12) I don't share either of these things with people I don't know really well.
13) When people meet me they probably think I am very reserved.
14) Until they get to know me.
15) Then they think I am pretty sick.
16) I hate to talk religion and politics with people, it just causes fights.
17) I don't care what religion or political affiliation anyone is. As long as they make me feel comfortable to be around them, I could care less.
18) My brother was an amateur stand up comic until he was married.
19) He's pretty funny, but said the F word in his act too much. It made people feel uncomfortable.
20) He even did a set in Boston when I was living there. It was really cool.
21) He is MUCH more outgoing than I am.
22) Teachers who had me first used to comment to him about how much quieter I was.
23) I played volleyball and softball in high school.
24) I would do anything for anyone I considered a friend or anyone in my family.
25) Because of this I have had "friends" take advantage of my loyalty.
26) That made me choose my friends much more carefully.
27) I think my name will be weird when I am an old lady.
28) My grandma picked really unusual names for some of her kids. I have aunts named Melvina, Yulanda, and Patience. Her other two kids were Cindy and Ricky, Ricky is kinda weird for a guys name.
29) I like the way she said my name Steph-knee is how it sounds when she says it.
30) She drove like a maniac.
31) She is really sick right now and in the hospital. She can't speak and I haven't been able to talk to her in over a month. (Since I wrote this she has passed)
32) She used to get so mad playing cards with my grandpa. She used to rip the deck of cards all to pieces when she lost.
33) I am competitive, but I can hide it better than that.
34) We get our tempers from my dad's side.
35) I get the holding grudges from my mom though.
36) I would much rather my dad be mad at me than my mom. He is mad for a short period of time and is loud and yells a lot. But she is quiet mad and for a long time. You feel like you'd rather be dead than have her be mad at you.
37) I don't even like it when she is mad at anyone else and I am around her.
38) She knew before I did that I was pregnant.
39) My mom and I did not get along while I was in high school. Now she is one of my closest friends.
40) I hope that I am firm with my girls like my mom was with me, but I hope they don't fight me as much as I fought her.
41) I was a colicky baby. I used to scream all day long.
42) My mom used to spend the day with family while my dad was at work. She was afraid to be alone with me.
43) She thinks I am a better mother than she was.
44) I think I will have to wait and see about that. If my kids turn out like my brother and I did, then I will know I was at least as good as a mother as her. If they turn out like my sil (Kale's sister), I will know I failed.
45) She keeps my kids one night a week over night, well the oldest 3.
46) I have 8 biological aunts and 1 biological uncle. I used to have 2 uncles but one died when I was 18mths old.
47) He died in a car accident. He was drunk and trying to return my aunts car before she arrived home from work. He was only 16.
48) His death and his story kept me from drinking and driving. Or even riding with anyone who had been drinking.
49) It didn't stop my brother.
50) I was very happy when his wife started dating him.
51) She got him to quit drinking.
52) He was so WILD in college. I hated when the phone rang late at night. I was scared it would be my dad telling me my brother had died.
53) My brother and I fought so much as children. We get along so well now. It's really weird.
54) My oldest two are just like us. My mom says I deserve it.
55) She also says I deserved Delilah being a hard baby.
56) I better get good teens, I deserve that. I was really good, too good in fact.
57) I only caused them panic ONCE.
58) When I was 18 (but still had a month left in high school) I flew to CA to meet with my boyfriend, who was 28. I didn't tell them I was going and they found out soon after I left.
59) She finally stopped bringing it up a few years ago.
60) I had to beg her to stop. I mean COME ON, it's the ONE thing I ever did.
61) I was famous in my high school for it. I didn't really want to be famous for it though.
62) I have never done any drugs.
63) I drank a lot though.
64) For my senior year spring break my best friend Lesley, our exchange student Mareike, a guy named Steve from our graduating class, and I went to Panama City Beach.
65) We had a blast.
66) I did things that I won't mention on here. None of them involved drugs. All of them involved alcohol.
67) My aunt lived in Panama City and my cousin who is 3 yrs older than me hung out with us. Until he threatened a guy I was talking to and tried to beat him up. He left after that, he couldn't stand seeing me as an adult.
68) I got a tattoo on that trip. A rose on my right ankle.
69) My mom has a "tramp stamp", she got it when she was 45. She's a principal and was a teacher so she got an apple. It looks like a strawberry w/o seeds.
70) My dad thinks tattoos are stupid. Also he thinks hickeys are trashy.
71) The first time I ever made out with a guy he gave me hickeys that covered my neck, both sides and along my jawline.
72) My dad didn't notice, neither did I. Until my mom told me I should go look in the mirror.
73) I was so embarrassed. My punishment was I had to call my dad at work and tell him.
74) He told me how trashy he thought it made girls look.
75) I haven't had one since.

I am cheating and posting this before 12am, but time stamping it that way. I will post Florida: Part 2 on Friday.