Tag--I'm It!

Karen tagged me earlier this week for seven random things about myself. I gave it a bit of thought because I wanted to list seven things nobody that reads this blog would know. Given that my in-laws are devoted followers who have been reading my dribble for nearly two years, it's not an easy task. After all, my husband first introduced me to them over 13 years ago. But here goes:

1. I have been a vegetarian for nearly 17 years. OK, bunches of you knew that. But did you know that it started because of a bet? I have never liked meat and at one time could be known to complain endlessly about the fact that I was eating the nasty stuff. Four of my friends finally became annoyed enough to tell me to put up or shut up. They each bet me $50 that I couldn't go a month without eating meat. I became $200 richer and never restarted eating the stuff.

2. Alexis is also a vegetarian, but I'm not the one that made the decision. I didn't really have an opinion one way or the other. We have agreed, however, that it's her choice to make. There have been a few times that she's expressed interest in one sort of dead animal or another, but she's never taken the plunge. Given that she's still in the 95th percentile for height and weight, I'd have to say she's doing just fine without it.

3. While I won't eat dead animals, I will eat Cream of Mushroom soup straight out of the can. Don't ask; I can't explain it.

4. I have a Ducktorette Degree in Human Resource Management from Disney University (it's even signed by Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck). That and $4.07 will get me a Grande Nonfat Pumpkin Spiced Latte.

5. It was no accident that we hadn't agreed on a middle name for a girl before Alexis was born. We were 100% agreed on a boy's name, but couldn't seem to get anywhere with a girl name. My last attempt at negotiations was when I was around 7 months pregnant when I brought up "McKinnley." Daddy vehemently said no, because he thought it would lead to teasing such as "Mount McKinnley." I was sold on it and didn't really think the teasing would be an issue. So I made up my mind that I wouldn't mention it again until we were in the delivery room. If we happened to have a girl, then I planned to use the current situation to my advantage. It worked. I have been known to gloat about the fact that Daddy refers to the Toddler as Kinnley more often than he does as Alexis.

6. My Mother refused to let me pierce my ears growing up because "If God had wanted holes in your ears, he would have put them there." The very second I thought I looked old enough to do it without a parent present, I had six holes punched in one ear and three in the other.

7. I killed Josh Duhamel in high school. Seriously. I was in charge of our school's Ghost Out for drunk driving awareness and he was one of the volunteers that offered to die for the day. I painted his face, made him a tombstone, and declared him dead. (For the record, he wasn't as smokin' hot back in 1992 as he is now.) (Also for the record, since I don't know if anybody outside of North Dakota has ever heard of a "Ghost Out", they are a way of raising awareness about the consequences of drunk driving. I don't know what the statistic is now, but back in '92 someone died in a drunk driving accident every 17 minutes. So every 17 minutes, a student volunteer would get their face painted white and were to be "dead" for the rest of the day. They attended classes but weren't allowed to talk. We always held them on days when there was a football or basketball game and would have all of the ghosts attend so that we could amass them together for a presentation at half time. I don't know if they actually stop anyone from drinking and driving, but Ghost Outs are definitely impactful.)

So there you have it. I now am supposed to tag seven others, but I think I'm just going to tag a couple of people that I've been meaning to add to my blogroll for some time now. Maybe I'll get around to it someday.

I tag: Imposter Mom, Not the Momma, and Tired Mama.