We interrupt our regular programming........because we got tagged with this Meme.

This was difficult. It’s hard to come up with “random” things about yourself. I started with a list and before long, I found that my list was turning into “things you would have never guessed about me” or “first experiences” or “embarrassing moments” or something like “weird facts about me.” One set of lists naturally centered around music: who I know, who I’ve seen, etc. Interesting? Maybe. But random? Well, not really.

I took Jim’s idea and used a random date generator. Because, as Jim had mentioned, some of the dates had a tendency to cluster around certain years, I ran the generator four times and made note of the dates. Then I sifted through some of my favorite photographs and matched some photos to dates on my list. I tried to keep things spread out, but even my dates started to lean towards the 70’s and 80’s.

Here’s how this meme is supposed to work:

1. Post these rules before you give your facts
2. List 8 random facts about yourself
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
4. Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged.


Here we go. 8 (sorta) Random things about me:

1- No date, but to address the physical: I hate my nose. It looks like no one else in my family and it give me a “miss piggy” quality. I’ve often considered changing it. Maybe if I win the lottery or something……

2- July 1970. Apparently, as it is told to me, I once put a cat in a toy box, closed the very heavy lid and forgot about him. The cat was pulled out in the nick of time and while he was droopy and a bit dizzy, he lived. You see, it was at this babysitter’s house and I was three and there was no one to play with. Hide and seek with the cat seemed like a good idea at the time. I have no memory of this. The lady that was my babysitter later wrote a book about all the kids she had in her care throughout the years. I guess I had enough antics to fill an entire chapter…including the cat story. Thank you Mrs. Belken.

3- April 1976. I won a contest to name a calf (for you non-farm people, that’s a baby cow). I named her “Sabrina” because, you see, it was the 70’s and Charlie’s Angels was all the rage. Even though my parent would never let me watch the show, I still knew the characters. It was sponsored by the Dubuque County Dairy Association and my parents and I were invited to a banquet where I received my $25 savings bond prize on stage.

4- September 1979. Eighth grade. I became a cheerleader. Yeah, that’s right. Finish laughing. I’ll wait.

5- March 1981. I bought my first pair of Calvin Klein jeans for $55 at the local Younkers store. My mom flipped out because she expected me to come home with several pair of jeans from Target. But, it was my money and I decided that I would rather wash my jeans every day and have one pair of Calvins than many pairs of Brand X jeans. Hey, I was in high school and it was the 80’s! As a side note: that particular pair of jeans “gave up the ghost” in 1987. I saved the back pocket with the Calvin label and I still have it today.

6- May 1989. I was living in Kansas City and at the time I was involved in the GMC Country Showdown… a national singing talent contest. Out of the 600 entries in the KC area, I made it to the top 50 before getting knocked out.

7- February 2002. Swearing I’d never get on a plane after 9-11, I boarded a plane to go home to Dubuque to attend the wake and funeral of a friend. It was a surreal 4 days for all of us, of which most were spent drinking, drunk or hungover. If you’re not from Dubuque… or if you’re not Catholic.. you might not understand that it wasn’t done in a disrespectful way. It was a group way of grieving. Therapy.

8- Not date specific: My brother might have the market of procrastination, but I’m the pack rat. I keep everything… because you never know when you might need it again. I’m not a crazy hoarder, but I do think I own more stuff than a person needs to own.


So, there it is. So, who am I going to tag? Well, not all my friends blog, so I might have to hit them via email. Sorry if that breaks the chain.

Here’s my EIGHT:

Kathleen- because Jim didn’t
Howard- because if he comes up with 8 things, that will be the longest email he’s ever sent me.
Rachel- because enquiring minds want to know
Bill- because he had to explain to me what a meme was
Mark- because you probably already have a list of 8 made
Kevin- because I like his blog postings and I’m sure he’ll have some great stories
Phil- because he’s witty enough to handle this
Donna- because if she’s not blogging yet…she should be.



And now back to our regular programming………….