100 things

Most others in the blogosphere have already done this meme, but, like Russian Violets, I'm just now getting to it.

100 things about me.

1. I love chocolate, even the cheap stuff.
2. Dove milk chocolate is probably my favorite.
3. Or almond-milk-chocolate bark from Schneider's Sweet Shop in Bellevue, Ky.
4. I grew up in Cold Spring, Ky.
5. But most people say I don't sound like I'm from Ky. (Whatever.)
6. I have eight siblings.
7. 3 sisters, 5 brothers.
8. I'm the oldest.
9. 9 kids in 11 years.
10. "Oldest of nine" was the defining feature for most of my life.
11. Just last night, I met a woman who's one of five. When I told her I'm the oldest of nine, she said, "Oh, so you were a raiser." I knew just what she meant.
12. And yes, I was a raiser.
13. By age 12, I could pin a diaper onto a squiggly butt, make a bottle, and console a baby screaming in pain from an ear infection. Like nobody's business.
14. I wouldn't have had it any other way. Always somebody to play with, sing at the top of your lungs with, shop with, drive to college with when you're too much of a whimp to get your own driver's license.
15. Yes, I was 19-and-a-half when I got my driver's license.
16. I'd always had dreams about losing control of a car.
17. I paid for my college education myself.
18. So did all eight of the siblings.
19. That's why only one of us went out of state for undergrad. (And it wasn't me.)
20. I played softball in grade school. And sucked at it.
21. Basketball for one season in 7th grade. Really, really sucked at it.
22. Volleyball for 2 years. Only midly sucked at it.
23. Track and cross country all through high school. A teensy bit above average at it.
24. Two of my three sisters were awesome runners, though.
25. I once ran a marathon.
26. I was part of a three-person relay team.
27. I did the three-mile leg.
28. With a broken finger, mind you.
28. My husband did the 10-mile leg.
29. My sister Jan did the 13.2-mile leg.
30. I met my husband when I was a senior in college.
31. I got married when I was 27.
32. I had a major health crisis when I was 30. Something I hope to never go through again.
33. I had my first child when I was 31.
34. I had my second child at 33.
35. Both are girls.
36. I'd always, always, always--all my whole life--wanted to have a daughter.
37. My older daughter looks exactly like the daughter I always imagined in my mind.
38. I'm not really a very funny person.
39. But I'm very good at laughing. Very good at appreciating other people's humor.
40. I'm just now getting brave enough to say what I think and ask for what I want. Most of the time.
41. For 9 years, I had an hour-long commute to my workplace.
42. But it was worth it because I loved my job.
43. And I especially loved my co-workers (Cathy, Beth, Bobby, Rich, Jim, Sara, Jane, Adrienne...)
44. Now I have a 10-minute commute.
45. And I love my "new" co-workers too.
46. I'm a soap-opera junkie, even though I rarely get to watch them anymore.
44. I keep up on my soaps through those stupid, way-too-expensive soap-opera magazines. And through my mom.
45. My favorite soap for most of my life was Guiding Light.
46. But I thought it started sucking when they did the Reva clone thing.
47. I've been a full-time college writing teacher for 12 years.
48. I was at a 4-year institution for the first 10.
49. Then I moved to a 2-year college.
50. Which I love. It feels like home to me.
51. My dad worked at the same company for 42 years.
52. 42 years!
53. He repaired and installed phones for the local telephone company.
54. My mom didn't work until I was in college. (See 6 through 9 above.)
55. Then she held a series of clerical jobs.
56. Now she watches several of my nieces and nephews while their parents work.
57. Obviously, my mother is amazing.
58. And my dad is the kindest, most humble, most giving man on earth. Really.
59. All the siblings pretty much adore each other. Really. It's kind of a sickening Brady Bunch thing.
60. We pretty much like the men and women who married into the family too. (Of course, we do rib the one lone Republican among us.)
61. My husband is a journalist. A very good one.
62. He's been a sports writer or sports columnist for his 18-year career.
63. But he's doing a stint on the Projects Desk now. He got to cover Katrina. (See here, here, and here.)
64. My husband just recently revealed to me that, for the entire 10-plus years of our marriage, he's been re-loading the dishwasher after I load it. He says I just throw all the crap in there with no rhyme or reason.
65. Hey, if he wants to re-load it, more power to him.
66. (And I think I adore him for having just done it for 10 years without telling me. Or complaining.)
67. I love Curb Your Enthusiasm.
68. My husband and I are constantly noting the ways in which certain things that happen to us are "Larry David" moments. I'm sure everyone else who watches the show does this too.
69. One thing I can't stand in other people (and thus have to fight against in myself) is negativity.
70. Not that I expect (or even want) people to be all Pollyanna all the time. But constant negativity bugs the crap out of me.
71. Another thing I don't like in other people (and thus have to fight against in myself) is selfishness.
72. I really, really like my students.
73. Sometimes Often I get totally overwhelmed with all the papers I have to read (especially on a community-college teaching load).
74. But usually once I get going on them, I'm okay.
75. And even in the not-so-good ones, I can usually find a gem somewhere. A turn of phrase, an insight--something beautiful.
76. My main scholarly interests are: composition/rhetoric, teaching with technology, and service learning.
77. I'm one of those people who actually likes committee work.
78. I have a core group of friends (Shannon, Cathy, Michelle, Ann, Kate) without whom I don't think I could function.
79. Even though I don't see all of them as much as I'd like (i.e., Shannon and Michelle), I'd still hate to imagine my life without them.
80. My husband has a similar core group of friends, some of them going back to grade school!
81. Which is something that always attracted me to him. I figured that if he can inspire that much loyalty, he must be a pretty good guy.
82. Motherhood is extremely, extremely challenging to me.
83. This I know: I'm very, very good at the baby stage (say, birth to 18 months).
84. The toddler stage on up: not so much. But I'm trying.
85. I gave birth to both of my girls completely naturally. No epidural, nothin'. (But I was very lucky: both labors--from first pain to the actual birth--lasted less then six hours. With the first one, I was completely dilated by the time I got to the hospital. And I had a very encouraging midwife, which also helped.)
86. "Easy" birthing is in my genes: all my sisters have had quick labors too. And so did my mom.
87. I think I'm running out of gas here at number 87.
88. I love to cook, but I'm not very good. And I don't really do it much.
89. I love coffee and coffee shops.
90. One of the difficult things about parenting, though, is that I don't get to hang out at cool coffee shops often.
91. I love old houses.
92. I have a pretty old house now (1940's era), but someday I'd like to have one that's even older.
93. I love to imagine who lived here before me, what kind of wallpaper they had, whether there was a lovestruck teenage girl looking out the east window at some boy down the street.
94. I have no pets.
95. I blame it on the big family: we never had time or room for pets. So I didn't grow up with them.
96. My daughters, like me at their age, are extremely frightened of most dogs. Even tiny ones.
97. I love singer-songwriters like Gillian Welch, Nanci Griffith, Kasey Chambers, Caitlin Carey, Lucy Kaplansky, et al.
98. And I adore Bruce Springsteen.
99. I like the color of my hair.
100. I have to give the girls a bath now.