Ten Random Things About Me

 

There are a few things about me that I don't think I've ever shared with you before.  Not one of these is important for you to know but I thought it would be a fun post to share because it's not my usual sort of thing.

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1.  I love LOVE, love to see storybook illustrations of critters that have been humanized in their environment.  Most especially rabbits and mice.  I'm talking about the Beatrix Potter-type illustrations though by no means just Miss Potter's.  There are so many talented illustrators out there who make the most charmingly detailed environments and pretend lives for critters. The more detail of an interior or a picnic scene in which rabbits and mice are involved the better I love them.  

This has been a sort of secret obsession forever.  I love the little Calico Critters that are a current trend in stores.

When I was fixing up the nursery before Katie was born, I had a set of Beatrix Potter prints that I hung on the walls of the room. I spent endless hours looking at them as I rocked her.

So now I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to these lovely little illustrations by all sorts of artists and I follow an Instagram account, @mouseinteriors.

2.  At one point in time, I loathed dill pickles.  Now I have turned a corner and crave them.  I am especially fond of the Oh Snap! pickles are sold in snack-size packets for a silly amount of money.  Boy are they good!

Another good one is the Boar's Head Cold Packed Dills.  It figures if I was going to love a pickle, they'd cost a lot more than I ever thought I'd pay!  Needless to say, these are indulgent treats and not a regular monthly grocery expense!

Back a few years ago when I had that blocked salivary gland, my doctor told me to eat pickles and drink lemon water, etc. And that's when it happened.  Two weeks later, having eaten pickles or olives most days, I craved them like nobody's business, and I still do.  

3.  There is a singular guarantee in my life.  If I order a hamburger any place and so does John, my burger will be the one with double or triple the usual number of pickles.  When I didn't care for pickles, this was so annoying, so I'd ask for my burger without pickles.  Invariably I'd still end up with all the pickles and then some.  Now, I do like them, but this trend of piling on pickles is a bit much for my taste, so I usually pass half off to John.

4. I grew up eating country cooking.  Even though Mama used a lot of convenience-type items in her cooking, she was still a country cook.  Collards, black eye peas with snaps, fried chicken, homemade mac and cheese...

When I got married, I cooked any and everything but those good country foods.  When a cousin, who had lived abroad for years, asked a young Katie if I cooked good country food, Katie replied, "Mama is more of a gourmet type cook."  I'm not a gourmet cook, but my tastes strayed hard from my country cooking roots.  My cousin, the one who'd lived abroad, spent most of her time in Italy, Germany, and Turkey bemoaning her inability to get a good mess of greens.  All I could think when Granny shared this with me from one of my cousin's letters was "Good Gracious!  She's in Italy...There's a world of food to explore!"  But no, Elaine wanted collards. Go figure.

Well now that I'm in my mid-60s, here I am craving those old country meals I grew up eating.  Simple Chicken and Rice the way Granny made it, and cooked Collards and not too long ago, I found myself eagerly dipping into the pan of black eye peas with snaps when I came across them at a buffet.  What's happened to me?!

Nostalgia, honey.  Pure nostalgia.  Those country meals I grew up eating were simple foods, and they were delicious.  I find more and more I want to taste my childhood food memories.  That they happen to also be fairly frugal is a big bonus.

5. Two phrases will absolutely put my back up.  

The first one is, "Trust me..." when spoken by someone I barely know if I even know them at all.  I don't know you and I won't trust you.  You earn my trust just as I earn yours.  As I come to know you and see you in action, I may well come to trust you, but until then, forget it.

And if I do know you and you break my trust, then I'll be a lot more cautious with what I trust you with in the future until you once more prove yourself trustworthy.

The second phrase is heard a LOT these days: "Do as I say, not as I do...", especially by vloggers.  I swear I've heard it nine times in as many days!  Then don't show me how you're doing it the wrong way!  Show me the right way to do the thing I'm trying to learn.  I can do things the wrong way all day long on my own.  I would prefer to know the right way.

6.  I don't like confronting anyone who has hurt me, misused me, or misused my trust.  I don't like to make a big fuss before others and I'm not so keen on making one just between you and me.  However, I will only allow myself to be abused just so far.  At that point, I will confront you as calmly and nicely as I know how.  I'll also be far more firm in my statements than you'd imagine I could be.  I think the biggest mistake most people make is thinking 'nice' or 'tolerant' equals "Doormat" or "Pushover".  It does not.

7.  I have a thing about small apartments in New York or Paris.  I have zero desire to live in either city but for some reason, I am absolutely fascinated by the idea of living in a tiny apartment in either of those cities.  

Some make me cringe because they are messy and cluttered or poorly laid out.  Some are lovely with light-filled spaces but looking out the window (especially in New York) one is put off by the 'view' of the adjacent building or rooftop, etc.  I'd miss the outdoor spaces we have here.  Rents as high as any of those tiny spaces make me gag hard. Nevertheless, I continue to periodically look up those tiny apartments and amuse myself thinking how I'd change this or that to make it a wee bit more useable.

8.  I am often shocked at my reflection these days.  I do not feel as old as I look. I forget that I am not 20 years or so younger which is how I feel inside.  

For many years, I felt like an 'old soul' sort.  I realize now that was mostly the childhood traumas that kept me feeling grown up, wiser, and more grounded than I've felt these past few years.  If I'm shocked at my physical appearance compared to how I often feel physically, then you can just imagine how horrified I can be at my physical appearance in comparison to the emotional youthfulness I feel now, lol.  

9.  I love watches.  I don't own a watch and haven't for about 30 years now.  Part of that is because I like really expensive watches.  When looking at Vogue magazines in my youth, it was the advertisements for watches that made me pause while flipping pages.  

I've never owned an expensive watch.  I've had watches in the past and wore one every day, but the last watch I had stopped working some thirty years ago and that was it for me.   I've never had another.

10.  I have a relatively good sense of time.  Ask me what time it is and without looking at a clock I can tell you about what time it is, usually within 10-15 minutes if I'm not exactly on the nose.  

It's all part of my ability to remember certain numbers. I can tell you relatively close to what most prices are at the grocery and can remember the page number of the last page I read (except in the Bible).  The book page number memory is especially good to have because I so seldom have a bookmark handy, and I will not turn down the page corner.

That's it!  There are ten fairly random things about me.  

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