Tag, You're It...

My friend Carrie Beth "tagged" me in her blog, and now I am supposed to post 7 things about myself you might not know or realize. So, here are my 7 things...

1. I love to oil paint. I took oil painting classes with my dad on Wednesday nights for about two years, up until I got pregnant and stopped because of fear of turpentine hurting the baby. I painted a very close-up picture of a red flower as well as a large picture of my parents' house that's hanging over their fireplace. I am actually a pretty good artist- I was Art Student of the Year in high school. My parents gave me some painting supplies last year for Christmas so I can paint at home, and when we finish the craft/playroom in the basement, I will have a permanent oil painting station!

2. I am horrible at sports. Totally, totally horrible. I have tried everything... teeball, baseball, softball, soccer, cross country, cheerleading, tennis, gymnastics, ballet. I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can come up with off the top of my head. God bless my parents, they paid for every type of lesson or team I could join and drove me to every single practice and coached me in the backyard, but I was just no good. I was an okay soccer goalie and did play on the varsity team in high school, but I just think I got that position because I was one of the tallest, had the biggest hands, and there was no one else interested in that position. I did give it my best shot, though! I hope our kids get Saunders's athletic abilities!

3. I love all crafts. I'm sure this is not a huge surprise as I've blogged about my sewing and scrapbooking loves, but I also knit, make jewelry, make soap, cross stitch, make home decor (like wreaths- still have the first wreath I made in high school that contains only flowers that Saunders gave me), etc. My mom and I took knitting classes at a local fabric store, and I really love to knit. It really calms my nerves... I knitted about 5 scarves when I was pregnant! I have LOADS of craft supplies in my house... hence my need to share the playroom with my kids and make it a craft/playroom. When I was little, I even had my own wood and leather embossing tool- that's a serious crafting child. If I see a craft, I want to try it!

4. I love school supplies. Freshly sharpened pencils, unused crayons, shiny new scissors, the smell of new markers... ahh, love it all. I could spend hours in the school supply aisle at the store. I love to organize school supplies, too. I love to open my supply closet at school and see all the tupperware containers stacked high, filled with pompoms, glue sticks, tongue depressors, cotton balls, and think, "Just what could I make with all of this?" I even have a little supply table for my first graders, fully stocked with little buckets of crayons all sorted into their color groups, little boxes and bins of scissors, glue, and eraser tops, a stack of drawing paper... I think this might be a major reason I became a teacher!

5. I have a "mans" taste in movies and shows. I do not really like romantic comedies or shows that most girls like. I hate Friends, Sex and the City, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives. I love The Sopranos, Dirty Jobs, How Its Made, Deadliest Catch. Sure, I love reality tv (hello, Project Runway is not manly) and some girlie movies (Gone With The Wind? Not a man's movie), but when in doubt of which movie or show I would like, you can probably bet I'd pick the one a guy would pick.

6. Although I do not really believe in global warming, I try to be a "green" person. I do want to do my part to reduce the amount of trash I am responsible for, and I know there's a lot more ways I could reduce the waste even further. However, this is what we do. We recycle plastic, aluminum cans, cardboard, and paper/magazines. I have the green bags from Publix, and I do not use plastic shopping bags anymore. We do not use paper plates or plastic cups, even though I'm sure Saunders would enjoy loading/unloading the dishwasher less! (That's his job.) I try to reuse as much as I can. I cut up all the soda can rings, rings off milk jugs, and anything else I think might choke a bird or fish.

7. I have some strange fears and phobias. I am afraid of clowns, bees/wasps, and my house burning down. The official names for these phobias are:
Apiphobia- the fear of bees
Pyrophobia- fear of fires
Coulrophobia- Fear of clowns
What is Katie Anne's Halloween costume this year? Yes, it is a clown, but I considered letting her be a bee last year, too. I am not mortally terrified of clowns- they just freak me out and I try not to look at them. (And no- because I can already anticipate someone... aka Doc... asking this- I will not avoid looking at Katie Anne on Halloween... she looks very cute in her clown suit and she does not scare me.) I do worry a lot about my house burning down (always have since I was little). Bees... that's a whole other story. I am scared OUT OF MY MIND of bees, yellow jackets, wasps, hornets, dirt dobbers... even things that sound/remind me of bees, like junebugs or dragonflies. I have been known to lock myself in a bee-free room and wait for up to two hours for my dad/my mom/Greg/Saunders to get home and kill the wasp that's flying in the house. I can hear a flying thing in the house even when no one else can... it is like a sixth sense. The weird thing is that I'm not afraid of other bugs... I'll kill spiders (although I try to set them free because they KILL BEES), stomp roaches, or otherwise anihilate bugs that creep most people out. Just don't ask me to kill a yellow jacket!

Now I have to "tag" 7 other people to do the same thing on their blog.

1. Jillian G.
2. Greg G.
3. Vanessa M.
4. Kristin W.
5. Erin J. (she can get a two-for-one since Carrie Beth also tagged her)
6. Sharon G.
7. Kelly M.