Important, yet random things about me

I was tagged by Stephanie over at Live. Laugh. Love. to do a 6 important things about me meme. I’ve done a 6 random things about me meme before. Somehow, I think these important things are similar to random things. And because I’ve been too lazy busy to do a 100 things about me post…maybe we can string together a bunch of these lists of 6 and call it a day.

1. I am a really good swimmer. I learned how to swim at the lake near my house in Florida. The lake was called “Dinky Dock.” And I was taught by a man named Fleet Peoples. I can’t make these things up. I have an anklet for swimming ¼ mile when I was 2 and then a bracelet for swimming 1 mile when I was 4.

2. When I was in college at UGA, I worked in the dining hall the summer between my Freshman and sophomore year. One night, I was helping to clean up, and I fell and cut both of my arms on glass. They were some pretty nasty cuts. One of the managers gave me a rag to help stop the bleeding…and then he put me in the van and dropped me at the university clinic. Yes, you read correctly. He dropped me off. I got out of the van, looked around and I didn’t even see a clinic. So, I wandered around a bit looking for some sort of signage. Finally I asked someone for directions – and I guess she felt pity for me with my rags and profusely bleeding arms. She walked with me…and guess what that clinic was closed! Closed!

Okay…this is way before cell phones. And I had no idea what the phone number for the dining hall would have been. My wonderful angel drove me to St. Mary’s hospital where I got 2 stitches in one arm and 15 in the other. I called Cindy Sue and she came to pick me up…and then take me back over to the dining hall to get my purse. They had me fill out all kinds of workman’s comp paperwork…including one set of papers about how I wouldn’t sue them. If I had only know then what I know now…because ya know, I *am* scarred for life.

3. I have an inner GPS. Sort of. I am really good with directions. I give great directions – because I remember not only landmarks but road names. But, I get stuck when someone tells me to “turn” north on a certain road. If I am not coming off of a highway that is clearly East-West…how on earth would I know which way is north? Or what store lies on the west corner of an intersection?

4. You all know that I don’t do crafts. And we don’t have paints, glue, glitter, play-do and things like that for my kids to do crafts. But…at one time, I tried to like crafts. I sponge painted placemats and aprons. I used to own a bunch of stampin’ up stuff to make cards for people. I was a collector and a dabbler…and then I sold all my stuff on ebay when I firmly realized that I liked the idea of it rather than the actual “doing” of said craft. And guess what? I have a craft that I did do…and do pretty well if I do say so myself. A few years ago when we went to Disney…I made t-shirts for all of us. With fabric paint. Wanna see?! I even got stopped at Disney to get compliments…and requests for directions on how to make these. So…what do you do then? Retire, of course.

Here is Michael's Georgia Tech Mickey Head. And for my shirt - and the ones I made for the girls, I really had to be careful as to where I put those ears...

5. In high school, I took 5 years of Latin and 4 years of Russian. I wonder why it is that I can remember my Latin…but the Russian? Not so much. I think I would still be able to read it. And I remember very little of the vocabulary. Except this. There is something in Russian called “ovat” verbs. They are verbs that pretty much come straight from English…with an “ovat” added to the end. For example, to photograph is “pho-toe-gra-fear-o-vat” or to flirt is “Fleer-toe-vat.” So…when we couldn’t remember a verb…we naturally turned it into an “ovat.” Like “eat-ovat” or “drive-ovat” or “read-ovat.” We thought we were so amusing…much to the chagrin of our teacher.

6. It’s painfully obvious that I love to read. I read all the time. I like just about everything. But, I must admit that I am addicted to smutty books. (Maybe I should do a Thursday Thirteen on these.) And not your momma’s romance novels…not the Sweet Valley High of your tween years…not the bodice rippers of the 80’s…but the “modern” romance novel. The ones with an edge. The ones that you need to read with a fan and a big glass of cold water. Ice water. The ones that you read and then later your husband might be heard to say “what the hell got into you? How did you learn to do that? And when can we do it again?”

Did you know that when you list your interests on your profile…you can click on those terms and see other people with similar interests? Apparently, I am the only one on blogger that admits to liking smutty books. There are 8 of us with an affinity for trashy books. But…if you were to put sex as one of your interests…you know just for scientific research purposes… there are over 18,000 people who say that is one of their interests. Just sayin’.

On that note...I am supposed to tag people to do this too. So...here we go:

Teri from Let Me Think on It

Kim from 4 Chambers of My Heart

Amy from The Q Family Adventures

Dancing Queen from To the Moon and Back

Elena at Manwaring Moments