101 Things About Me (Revised!!)

(Or, an irresistible exercise in blogging narcissism)

1. I have brown hair (if you don't count the gray!) and blue green eyes.
2. I am 5 ft. 4 inches tall.
3. I once had hair so long that it brushed the backs of my knees.
4. I cut it extremely short before I went backpacking in Europe so that it would be easy to care for.
5. I spent nearly five months on that backpacking trip with my husband.
6. We left on this date in 1998.
7. We visited Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the U.K. (Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England).
8. I can't wait to travel again.
9. When I came back from Europe, I immediately started law school.
10. I had wanted to be an English professor, but law seemed like it offered more job opportunities.
11. I made the choice between an English graduate program and law school from a pay phone in Greece in the pouring rain, when I reluctantly turned down a fellowship to get my PhD in English.
12. Frequently, I wonder if I made the right choice.
13. I hated law school, but I met a great friend there.
14. We were delighted to discover that both of us called ourselves feminists in a time when so many women reject that word.
15. I don't tell her often enough how much her friendship means to me.
16. I've worked as a waitress, proofreader, and lawyer.
17. All of my sisters have worked or are working as waitresses, but none are proofreaders or lawyers.
18. I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers.
19. All of them except one are younger than I am.
20. Some of them read my blog, but they never comment!!
21. I always wanted to have a big family, but it didn't really fit with my other goals in life.
22. Plus, I had to talk my husband into having any children at all.
23. He's still skeptical about the wisdom of that decision, though he loves the squeaker and the pipsqueak.
24. I have two children.
25. I had wanted a girl so much that I cried when I found out I was going to have a boy. But only the first time!
26. Now I think the squeaker and the pipsqueak are the best little things ever, even though they are stinky boys.
27. My severe morning sickness pretty much guarantees that two kids is it for me.
28. While I was pregnant with the squeaker, I really hoped to give birth naturally and then breastfeed for at least a year.
29. I found natural childbirth surprisingly easy.
30. In fact, I almost ended up having the squeaker at home because I just didn't think labor was that far along.
31. And I almost had the pipsqueak on Interstate 83!
32. But breastfeeding was the hardest thing I've ever done.
33. It was even harder than the bar exam!
34. (Which I miraculously passed on the first try.)
35. Breastfeeding has gone more smoothly with the pipsqueak.
36. In fact, everything about the pipsqueak has been easier.
37. I did not have the squeaker or the pipsqueak baptized.
38. I have not been baptized either (same with my husband).
39. I am an atheist and don't understand religion.
40. My parents are also atheist/agnostic, so I wasn't raised to value religious faith.
41. My grandmother is very worried that none of us will be in heaven with her.
42. It's hard for me to understand her concern when the whole idea seems so absurd to me.
43. I can be very irreverent, and it rubs some people the wrong way.
44. I love Monty Python and Douglas Adams for their irreverence.
45. My first car was a burgundy Honda Civic hatchback.
46. Whenever my dreams involve driving anywhere, that's always the car I'm driving.
47. I am not prone to nightmares or insomnia.
48. Sometimes I think that if I were an insomniac, I'd be able to get a lot more things done.
49. But luckily, I'm not the kind of person who feels compelled to be getting things done all the time.
50. My first crush was on Luke Skywalker.
51. I wrote Luke lots of letters that my mother promised to send, but didn't (thank goodness!).
52. I married my "high school sweetheart."
53. Some people say he looks a lot like Luke Skywalker.
54. We got married at the courthouse.
55. We had to stand under an ugly plastic arbor when we exchanged our wedding vows.
56. We had a backyard party and played volleyball and bocce with our families to celebrate.
57. I couldn't stand the idea of spending a lot of money on a wedding.
58. All my life, I've lived in one of four neighboring counties, three of which are in Maryland.
59. But the county I live in now is in Pennsylvania, not Maryland.
60. I'm not sure I want to live here forever, but we have almost 9 acres of woods to ourselves.
61. I am politically liberal.
62. I have voted in every election held since I was eligible to vote.
63. I love both movies and books.
64. One of the things I miss most about my pre-parenthood days is going to see movies at the theatre.
65. I never watch TV. I don't think I've watched a TV show or news program in at least 10 years.
66. I hate commercials.
67. But we have a large DVD collection and love to watch movies at home, when parenting duties don't interfere.
68. We co-sleep.
69. I hadn't planned to co-sleep, but we found that it was the arrangement most conducive to sleep for all of us.
70. Now the squeaker generally sleeps alone (reluctantly).
71. Often, the pipsqueak does, too (willingly).
72. I am afraid of spiders.
73. I am such a private person that it is hard for me to connect with people at times.
74. But I think of myself as reserved, kind, honest, loyal, open-minded, stubborn, and ethical.
75. I'm also highly opinionated, but I don't share my opinions unless I know someone well.
76. I really enjoy the company (and writings of) people who are funny and witty, but I myself am a serious person who isn't very witty.
77. I like the ocean and love the beach!
78. I'd much rather wear sandals and summer dresses than a winter coat, hat, and boots.
79. I hate skiing.
80. (Unless it's water skiing, which I'm not very good at but have enjoyed the few times I've tried.)
81. I never wear makeup.
82. I don't even own any.
83. I was never into girlie things.
84. I collect sheepy stuff.
85. But I'm not really into knick knacks, so my sheepy things are typically practical -- sheep sheets, sheep slippers, sheep socks, sheep cookie jar.
86. My favorite color is green.
87. I wanted a green stuffed sheep so much that my mother finally dyed one of my white stuffed sheep green.
88. I love chocolate, especially brownies.
89. I don't drink much, though I like Woodpecker cider.
90. I'd much rather have a brownie than an alcoholic drink.
91. I've never tried any illegal drug, or even cigarettes.
92. I'm a very analytical, particular, practical person.
93. I miss my Shetland sheepdog, Lorna Doone.
94. I am much more of a dog person than a cat person.
95. But I don't like big, jumping, slobbery dogs, either.
96. I play the piano (10 years of lessons!), but I am not an accomplished or advanced player.
97. I like to sing, but I am truly terrible.
98. I believe that flexibility is the key to happiness.
99. I think that people who try to live their lives according to all kinds of absolutist principles (even if those principles are idealistic) seem destined for unhappiness.
100. I imagine that this probably makes me look unprincipled to some people, but I think it's a matter of pragmatism.
101. Generally, I'm pretty self-confident and don't care much about what other people think about me, as long as they are relatively nice to me and let me be.