Wooo-Hooo!!!! My 100th!

Wow! This is actually my 100th post! I understand that in the bloggy-world it's traditional that this event is celebrated with a post listing 100 things about me. Hmmmmm...... this may take some time and I'll probably have to come back to finish, but I'll try to list as many as I can! Here goes.........


100 things about me

1. Today is my birthday! Really! I turn 39 today! How the heck did that happen?
2. I really don't like people in general.


3. I don't wear sunscreen as much as I should, but I'm very careful not to burn.


4. I put myself through college by working at a subshop.


5. I met my husband while working at that sub shop.


6. He was my supervisor when we met!


7. We didn't date until four years AFTER I'd left the sub shop, though!


8. When I went to law school, I thought I was going to become a famous Civil Rights attorney or represent battered women or work for Rails to Trails.


9. I love to take photos.


10. If I hit a ginormous lottery, I wouldn't move. I'd just build onto the house I have now.


11. I don't just love my kids -- I'm completely head over heels IN LOVE with them!


12. In late 2005, I sent in an audition video to the producers of the show "Ms. Adventure" when I discovered that Animal Planet was casting the host of the new show. I didn't even get a callback, but I didn't think I was too bad! It was sort of a "Rachel Ray" meets the "Croc Hunter" type of feel to it. Oh well. Their loss!
13. I bought my tickets to the opening night performance of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix online just a few minutes after they went on sale at Fandango to be SURE I'd see it opening night.
14. Other than the first three weeks of my life, I've always lived in the same state.
15. There's almost nowhere in the world that I wouldn't travel to!
16. My dog is 11.5, my older cat is turning 16 and my "little" cat is 8. I worry constantly about the fact that two of them probably don't have many more years left. I'm already missing them!
17. Today is the 8th anniversary of the day I brought the little cat home. She was five weeks old and absolutely ADORABLE!!! My husband was mad at the time, but the cute kitten soon won him over!
18. I really don't care about purses or shoes. As long as the one(s) I'm using looks decent and feels comfortable and suits my needs, I'm happy. I simply can't imagine spending hundreds of dollars (or more!) on shoes or purses!
19. All summer, HandsomeBoy and I have been working our way through Hooked On Phonics - Kindergarten and I can't believe his progress! He's learned more in the past month than he learned all year in Kindergarten! I've already ordered the First Grade kit!
20. It wouldn't surprise me at all if CutiePie grows up to be a famous rockstar and/or comedian. Think Jack Black. Think John Belushi (without the drugs, please). That's my CutiePie's kind of humor and style of performance!
21. HandsomeBoy is totally a mommy's boy and I LOVE IT!!!!
22. Waking up this morning with RockStar, CutiePie and HandsomeBoy all in my bed and BigRed (the dog) in his bed on the floor next to us was the best present I could have wished for!
23. The next-best present was the camera case/backpack they gave me. I really needed something like this, so I'm very excited and can't wait to put it to use this weekend!
24. Exactly three years ago today I hit rock bottom on our adoption wait. I was so sure we were never going to ever get kids, I hated Russia, I hated our agency, I hated not knowing what was going on and I felt completely taken advantage of. Little did I know, we were just two weeks away from a surprise referral!!!
25. I still want a daughter and I'm working on plans to make it happen.
26. I recently ran into one of my high school boyfriends at a party. While my two boys played with his two boys, we caught up on the last 20 years. I didn't know he was going to be there, so it was a shock seeing him, but I have to say that I really enjoyed myself! He was a great guy and he seems to have turned into a good man.
27. In August, RockStar and I will celebrate our 9th anniversary. When we were on our honeymoon in Aruba, we decided that we would return there to renew our vows on our 10th anniversary. Now, between our finances and, hopefully, another adoption in the future, we might just celebrate in the back yard! Still, it's been a great marriage and I love him more every day!
28. I used to hike a lot and I loved it. I'd really like to get back to doing more of it, especially now that the boys are big enough to come with me on shorter hikes!
29. I win things. A lot of things. Like movie tickets, DVDs, gift cards, concert tickets, theatre subscriptions, etc.... I've won Wiggles tickets 3 times, including a meet and greet with Anthony, Sam, Murray and Jeff at the grand opening of Wiggles World at our local Six Flags park. People ask me what my trick is. No trick - you just have to enter the contests!
30. I love FlyLady! My house and home and life was a shambles before I found her system. It's so easy and simple and makes so much sense!
31. I've been using the Hooked on Phonics system this summer to improve HandsomeBoy's reading skills and, at the risk of sounding like the old commercial, Hooked on Phonics worked for us!!!!! It's amazing how much he's learned and how fast! It really is a great system!
32. I love the beach AND the mountains!
33. I'm excited about school starting again soon. Both of the boys will be in the school district and going to the "big boy" school, so it's going to be exciting for all of us!
34. My younger son, CutiePie, is ethnically Roma, a group of people better known in America as Gypsy. Back in my college days, one summer I spent a lot of time at the Renaissance Faire where one of the story lines involved a group of Gypsies. I learned a little about the Roma people from that summer and, over the years, would always perk up my ears a little when I heard anything about the Roma mentioned. So, imagine my surprise when our coordinator presented me with CutiePie's file and informed me, almost apologetically, that he was Roma!!! The Roma have faced discrimination and genocide in Europe and Central Asia and few Americans know anything about them, so our coordinator was surprised to discover that I knew exactly what she meant when she told me he was Roma.
35. I have 1 dog (Big Red), who is the best dog ever in the history of the world (really!) and two cats, both of whom think they run this place! They're probably right!

Okay, that's it for now. Check back for more later!