50 Things About Me

I see that a lot of Bloggers post the "101 Things About Me" list, so I thought I would give it a whirl. However, I am stuck at 50. So I thought it might be fun to do it in two parts anyway. Perhaps, 50 now and 51 later.


1. I AM CANADIAN, and quite proud of it truthfully.

2. I could have been American. My Paternal Grandfather was American and had made plans to take the family back to Indiana to farm when he passed away. Half of my Paternal family lives in the US and are Americans. I am very proud of my American heritage.

3. My Maternal Grandparents were Scottish. Sadly I don't know enough about my Scottish heritage, but would love to learn more and visit Scotland one day.

4. So I don't feel like I am leaving anyone out (which you will soon find is one of my traits. I hate to leave anyone out of anything) I should mention that my Paternal Grandmother was British, but I always think of her as being Canadian. Weird eh?

5. I was born in Ottawa, Ontario and have lived most of my life here. I love Ottawa.

6. I lived in Sutton, Surrey, England for a year in 1977.

7. My younger sister was born there. I have never returned, but recently have had the desire to.

8. I lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba for 22 months in 1991/1992. I have never returned and so far have no plans to. Winnipeg was a great experience. I thought I was running away from Ottawa, but it drew me right back.

9. My native toungue is English, but I have a French Bilingual certificate. When I speak French to people, they switch back to English.

10. I speak better Spanish than I do French.

11. I never graduated from High School.

12. It never held me back from anything.

13. I graduated from The University of Ottawa in 1998. I entered as a mature student, proved that I could get pretty good marks and was accepted full time. I never thought I would love school, but I still miss University.

14. I play a cello. Ok, I used to play a cello, I still can, but it sounds terrible. One of my wishes is to take lessons again and be able to play like I used to. I could probobly practice regularily and get it back, but I find it hard to fit in these days.

15. I play the flute. Sadly, I can still play pretty well too!

16. I also play the piano, but since I don't have one, I only get to play at my Parent's place, and I usually have to compete with a bunch of toddlers for the keys.

17. I used to drive a motorcycle. It was great and I miss it, but it is pretty hard to strap a carseat to the back of a sport bike.

18. I traded my motorcycle for a convertible. Loved it and vow to own one again when my kids don't have to be in carseats anymore.

19. I traded my convertible for a safe hardtop. It's not as fun, but it has leather seats that make me feel luxurious.

20. I was a cheerleader in highschool.

21. I have three sisters. One older by two years, two younger, one by seven years, one by fourteen years. I liked being the middle sister, until the last one came along ;).

22. People I've never met stop me and ask me if I am so and so's sister, they are usually right.

23. My mother looks young enough to be my sister and many people think she is.

24. My father is nine years older than my mother, but he behaves like he is nine years younger, so it makes for lots of fun.

25. I worked for my father for nine years. He taught me how to work hard and appreciate labourers (he is a painter by trade). I had dreams of running the business one day, then I got another job and drifted away from the business. Somedays I wonder what would have happened had I continued on.

26. I worked for Cineplex Odeon for nine years. I quit three times before not returning. Everytime I quit they asked me to come back and silly girl that I was I did. I finally quit for good when I went to University.

27. I was a Bartender for nine years (see a pattern here?). Best paying job I ever had. Didn't have to go to a gym and you got paid to chat with people. I loved it and if I would do it again if I had to.

28. My last full-time job was at Nortel. I worked there for four years and left to have my son. I never returned from Mat leave, which surprises everyone. I made it through 22 rounds of layoffs so everyone thought I would go back. I love my new job.

29. Being a Mom is the best job I have ever had and it pays the least.

30. My Son, Jonathan, is 2 years old and I can't remember what life was like without him.

31. My Stepson, Alex, is 13 years old and the best Stepson a StepMom could ask for. I sure hope he doesn't change too much in his teen years.

32. Alex started playing hockey as a goalie last winter and he is really great. He taught his little brother to play and now they have games in the basement. I never thought I would have a bunch of boys playing hockey in my house before.

33. Jonathan is a natural athlete. They best we can figure is that his Father is half an athlete, and his Mom is half an athlete (neither of us have played any major sports, mostly love golf and a good walk) therefore he is an entire athlete. No matter what the sport he can pick it up and just start playing. He was doing great at badminton until our neighbour showed him how to use the racket as a guitar.

34. My Husband plays a mean guitar so it won't be surprising when Jonathan picks it up and starts playing au-naturel.

35. Here I am only at thirty five an getting stuck on things about me, I am the person I know best.

36. I love coffee. Coffee is a staple in my diet. I tried to give it up once, but only once. I'll call it my temporary insanity. Coffee can make or break my day. If I have it all is good, if I don't, not so good. It doesn't have to be the best coffee, just coffee. I save the best stuff for an afternoon or evening treat or if I have company. I do have a "latte factor" in my budget, so I can have a Starbucks or Second Cup once a week.

37. I love to bake, cook, create in the kitchen! The scarey part is I will see a recipe and make a scrumptious looking cake for a special occasion not knowing if it is good or not. So far I haven't been too disappointed, but I should really have test days beforehand. My favorite thing is to make a loaf to bring as a hostess gift, Banana Bread, Pumpkin Loaf, Lemon Cranberry.

38. People call me Martha. I really, really don't like it. Martha Stewart has been an amazing inspiration in my life. Her magazine and show inspired me to be more like my Mother. Growing up my Mother could have been Martha. We lived in a well organized, well cleaned home. My Mom, although not a caterer, could easily throw together a dinner party in a couple hours notice and you would think she had planned it all week long. Our house was always so nice and clean that my friends used to be afraid to hang out. I rebelled for many years living in very messy places. Then one day I picked up a copy of "Martha Stewart Living" (I liked the photo on the front) and realized that my Mom was not alone in the world and that there was nothing wrong with being neat and tidy. Then I realized after a few recipes, that cooking was really fun too, something my Mom tried to teach me for years, but now I call her all the time and she loves it. I don't think I will ever be quite the same as my Mom but, I strive to be the best me I can be.

39. I have two dogs. A Lab/Boarder Collie who is nine years old named "Cosmo" after "Kramer" on Seinfeld. And a Siberian Huskey who is 5 years old, named "Mickey" after "Mickey Blue Eyes", he has one blue eye. They are for the most part great dogs. Mickey is still a little crazy, but that is the Huskey in him. Cosmo is very mellow and a great companion. They both guard myself and Jonathan whenever they think we are in danger.

40. We used to have a cat, but Cosmo tried to kill it and I am allergic, so it went back to where we got it from.

41. We had 6 birds. Cute littel Zebra Finches. It started off as two then they had babies 5 boys. Then the mother passed away so we had six male birds chirping away. We gave them to a pet store once my husband realized how annoying they could be.

42. We had a salt water aquarium. My husband was into tropical fish. It was an 88 gallon tank, so when we moved from one house to another he sold it as we had nowhere to put it. Although it was beautiful, it was a lot of work.

43. I don't want any more pets!

44. I love to sew. I sew quilts for friends and family and to bring in a little extra cash, started sewing for a small company. It has been getting to be a little more than I bargained for so I will be going back to sewing for friends and family only. I don't ever not want to sew.

45. Reading is my favorite passtime. I love a good book. Something that can take you away for a minute or two. Even a good magazine will do! I switch back and forth between Classics and not so classic Novels. I love the classics because they make me think and concentrate on the English that I am reading. I love novels because I can fly through the stories and check out for a bit. I can also spend a day or two reading a good magazine. And it really bums me out when I think I am getting a great magazine and I am finished in an hour.

46. Phew! This is taking much longer than I thought, I have been working on this for about a week and then I get a block and can't think of anything more that is interesting about me. I will keep trying...

47. I grew up wanting to be a photographer, but always chickened out. I didn't think my photos were ever good enough. But, truth be told, they aren't half bad. I love photos, I love to capture things on film and I love to show them off. I also have a closet full of photos that should be making their way to a photo album.

48. My favorite food is a "Nic-a-Boli". It is served in a little restaurant called Nicola Pizza, located at my favorite beach. Very similar to a Stromboli, but unique in it's own way. I think it is my favorite food because it reminds me of my family. My large extended family of Aunt's, Uncle's and Cousins. We used to meet at the beach every year for a week and have a great time.

49. I should mention my favorite beach. Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Nothing too fancy,but there is something to be said that I hang out at the same place my Dad did when he was a kid and growing up. When all my friends were heading out for EuropeanVacations and Exotic locales. I was heading off to Rehoboth. It is a bit of everything. Sub-tropical, good sized rolling waves, a fun boardwalk to check out the shops and get good eats, and most of all my family was almost always there with me. When I first took my husband (we were still dating) I was so afraid he wasn't going to love it like I do, but here we are 10 years later and we only missed two summers. We even went twice one year to make up for it!

50. I have naturally blonde hair. It has definately gone darker since I have been a Mom, but I can still say that I have never dyed my hair. But..... if it ever got so dark that someone called it brown, I might have to change my mind. People would aske me where my son got his blonde hair until I spent some time in the sun and mine lightened up.


So there are 50 about me. Some are lame I am sure, but it is really hard to think of things about me that you might find interesting. I will work on my next installment, but I fear it will take me a bit longer.