Oversharing

There isn’t much about myself or my life that I wouldn’t share with others. Or rather, it mostly falls into either the “I’d tell this to anyone” category or the “I’d embarrass someone else by putting this on my blog” category. There’s not a huge amount in between.

So when I was pleasantly surprised by Missy from Literal Mom with an award, and asked to share seven facts about myself that people wouldn’t already know, I was a bit stumped. I mean sure, there are odd facts here and there I could tell you, but I doubt they’d be on par with Missy’s hilarious list.

However, after some thought (in between eating various Christmas desserts and hugging various relatives) I managed to dig up a couple of tidbits that may shock or amuse you. Or both.

1. I never paint all of my toenails the same color. Sometimes I do one foot in one color and the other in a second, like right now my left toenails are red for Christmas and the right ones are blue for winter. Other times I alternate two colors. Most of the time I do five different colors. Obviously, I do it in the winter, too, when there is no one to notice it but me.

2. I know all the words to the greatest hits of Air Supply and REO Speedwagon. I blame this on the fact that when I was about five, my mom caught me singing George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex.” I had no idea what the words meant, I swear, but it led to a childhood-long ban on every radio station except adult contemporary. My siblings haven’t quite forgiven me yet. You can express your sympathies to my husband in the comments, too, by the way.

3. I feel compelled to dunk every single piece of cereal into the milk before I can begin eating any of it. I’ve tried to start eating without doing this, and simply cannot. It is the one bit of OCD behavior that I have. Stop laughing. It really is the only one.

4. Once when I was three, my great-grandmother gave me and the rest of my cousins each a little candy bar. I didn’t say thank you. My mother reminded me. I stayed silent, clutching my Snickers. My mother, stumped and likely embarassed, told me to say thank you or give it back. I paused, then dropped the Snickers into Grandma’s hand, and ran away. I think this is probably the only time in my entire life that I have refused chocolate.

5. In middle school, I ratted my bangs and wore them in a poof on my forehead. I also wore my jeans pegged at the bottoms. If I can find a picture in my mom’s old photo albums, I’ll add it in, even though I’d risk causing you to die laughing on Christmas Eve. So ridiculous.

6. Also in middle school, I once had to accept something like five awards, walking up to a podium in front of my entire class and sitting down each time, wearing a white skirt that had a red bloodstain spreading on it. That’s right, someone was less than prepared for her period that day. I told everyone afterward that I’d cut my leg. My very kind seventh-grade teacher didn’t question my preposterous story, but just helped me rinse it out as well as possible. Though I can laugh about it now, I have never again worn white at that time of the month.

7. I have read a YA series called “Love Comes Softly” more times than I can count. It’s kinda like a Christian version of Little House on the Prairie. Though I spent 13 years in Catholic school, this little series has influenced my faith and my beliefs about life more than all those religion classes. And now, though I’m grown up and the Church and I have had a falling out, I still hold tightly to a lot of the ideas in those books – that God can heal our wounded souls, that you can never tell what effect a small kindness may have on others, that you can fall in love gradually. I know many people would find the books cringe-worthy, but I’m still fond of them.

So there you have it. Do you think it was award-worthy? I hope so!

Here is how the award works, by the way:

• Thank the person who gave the award.
• List 7 things that people may not know about you.
• Pass the award to 15 other bloggers and notify them.
• Post the badge on your blog.

So of course, thanks to Missy! I love people who give me ideas for blog posts, and I definitely love your blog right back!

I’m pretty sure awards like this are the blogosphere’s equivalent of a chain letter, so while I’ll link you to some blogs that are near and dear to my heart, I am giving them the Christmas present of being under no obligation to do anything other than smile once I’ve notified them.

Without further ado, go check out these lovely ladies while some doting aunt or uncle watches your kids.

A punk, a pumpkin, and a peanut

An inch of gray

Decoy Betty

Diaries of a Grumpy Grateful Mom

Human Mama

In Pursuit of Balance

Is There Any Mommy Out There?

Life on the Mama Track

Mama Wants This

Mom 101

These Little Waves

Things I Can’t Say

This Italian Family

The Ripple Effect