Tuesday, July 3, 2007

seven random things about me

A while ago I was tagged by Tracy at "Outside" to do a meme on "7 random things about me." With my parents visiting and nice summer weather and gardens to be weeded etc, I am just now getting to it. So guess hot humid days that end with a little rain are good for something! Tracy, thanks for tagging me - sorry it took so long for me to get this done.


one - I love gardens and gardening. this may not be a surprise to those of you who have read my blog since things finally started blooming. But you may not know that I love all the work involved in doing my own gardens. I love having people visit my gardens - in person and on the blog. I love visiting other people's gardens. I love seeing how they combine plants - how they've used common plants in fun ways - what their thought process is. I could talk gardening for a very long time without getting tired of it.
two - I would love to live in Europe. Not full time or forever - but a small part of each year or for a year or two. I would love to be passably fluent in any number of languages. I would love to soak up all that history and see my own American world differently because of it.
I have been lucky enough to do some traveling in Europe - but a week or two is not what I really crave.
three - I have a tattoo on my ankle. It's a small purple flower with green stem and leaves. It looks kind of like an upside-down hanging bellflower.
After I got it, I was back at the tattoo parlor and the artist who did it asked to see it again. THEN he told me I was really lucky because purple ink often turns brown.
I was 47 when I got the tat - I wanted it and I am very happy I have it. After you've picked out a design and made an appointment, margaritas are a really good idea - mine didn't hurt a bit.
four - 47 was a big year for me - can you say mid-life crisis? I also learned to snowboard that year. Well, I tried to learn - I had some very impressive bruises all over my body. I learned to downhill ski when I was 23 - that will remain my main mode of transportation down a mountain.
five - I grew up on a farm and went to a one-room country school through the fourth grade. I was an extremely shy girl. Going from a rural and small town school environment to college (the Univ of Iowa - go Hawkeyes!!) was painful.
I have made a huge recovery from those days. I can (and do) talk to anyone and everyone now. I have no problem starting conversations with perfect strangers wherever I am - about pretty much anything. It feels much better really. And now I would love to have a small farm - 20 or 30 acres. I would fill it with gardens and wildflowers, of course!
six - I am a terrible procrastinator. I might be getting better - but I might not. I am always pushing things to a deadline.
A good example: last week my parents were coming on Friday morning to stay for a couple weeks. I pretty much let my house go until Thursday - and then was planning to vacuum Friday morning before they arrived - because I wanted it nice and clean, of course, when they got there. The vac quit working on me after one room. When they got to our house, I was at Sears buying a new vacuum cleaner - and my mom pretty much finished cleaning my house for me later that day. I might have learned a small lesson from that - or I might not have.
seven - I love to read. I used to stay up all night reading rather than put down a good book. I don't do that so much anymore. But I have on more than one occasion sat in a hotel room finishing a book instead of going out to dinner. I only read one book at a time - I am in awe of people who can have two or more books going at the same time.
I'm not going to tag anyone for this - but if you'd like to do a list on your blog, I'd love to learn more about you - let me know!

11 comments:

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

Very interesting post, I went to a one room school house in kindergarten, my parents moved to Waterloo, IA as my Dad started working at The Rath Packing Co, I am thankful every day they moved to Waterloo :). Thanks for sharing.

Karen said...

I enjoyed this post! I can identify with procrastinating and also reading one book at a time. And I'm impressed that you learned to snowboard!

Jane O' said...

I'm glad we got to know you a little better. Have a great Fourth of July!

meresy_g said...

I want a farm of about the same size. And I love to read and I was shy for a long time and then all of a sudden stopped. Now, like you, I can talk to anyone, anywhere, about almost anything. And it is much better. Thanks for sharing things about yourself.

Trailhead said...

Wow, a one-room schoolhouse. That sounds cool. How old was it?

Sylvana said...

Well, if you're going to put them up for a couple of weeks, the least they could do is clean, right? ;)

Anonymous said...

Kris: Thanks for participating - what a great list! My mom went to a one-room schoolhouse in northern MN. With no indoor plumbing, they even had to endure snowballs on the way to the outhouse (from her brother and his friends).

And like you, I'm a voracious reader but only read one book at a time. I just finished The Messenger by Daniel Silva. I notice you like mysteries, so if you haven't read any of his, I'll go ahead and recommend him, especially his first 3-4 books. I haven't found his last two to be up to par with all his others, but he's still good.

kris said...

Thanks everyone - I love reading all of your comments!!

Iowa Gardening Woman - our school was originally K-8 and then to a small town high school - so guess I was lucky there was a consolidation before 5th grade - improved my social skills at least a little!!

Karen - I'm pretty proud of myself for trying the snowboarding - I wish I could say I had mastered it. It is a totally cool way to enjoy the ride if you're good at it!

Marie - thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I just looked at your blog - totally awesome daylilies! Your gardens are beautiful.

Thanks meresy_g - I doubt if I'll ever get my farm. We'd love to have the space, but neither of us is willing to leave the lake. (can you hear the violins - lol!)

Trailhead - I don't know how old the building was - but it was truly a one-room school. There were 2 bathrooms and a small room for teacher supplies and that was it! We all sat in one big classroom and went up to the teacher's desk for lessons. Can you imagine trying to prepare lessons in each subject for grades K-8 each day?? Interesting part, my one classmate and I learned to read in kindergarten - probably just from being in that environment. (Alda and I were classmates through graduation - lots of history!)

LOL, Sylvana!

Tracy - guess I was lucky - we had indoor plumbing!! But it was very interesting dealing with kids a lot older than me - I learned to stick up for myself pretty early on.
Thanks for the note on Silva - I'll check him out and let you know what I think!

Unknown said...

Tracy, I'm soooo with you on staying up all night reading a book. I used to drive my Mom crazy because I would read by the tiny sliver of night light (my closet light) if I had to! :)

What a fun list... I'm glad for the chance to "get to know you" better.

kris said...

Hey blackswamp_girl - I would put a small bedside lamp under the covers. Somehow my parents could always tell I was still up reading when they looked up the stairs... lol! Probably lucky I didn't ever start the sheets on fire!

Tara said...

My husband is a Hawkeye! He even has football season tickets - I'm not so thrilled about that....he is from Davenport and his parents from small towns.