"You're a Pretty Standard Mother"

Lauren and Sarah tagged me for the meme where I tell you eight odd things about me.  Last fall I did the meme where I told you six weird things about me, though, and despite what my husband might tell you, I'm just not that weird.  I asked my two oldest boys to help me figure out what to post, and the 7yo came up empty.  "You're a pretty standard mother," he told me.  My husband, in constrast, said (didn't I predict this a couple of sentences ago?), "You're weird in lots of ways, but I can't come up with them on demand."  So I guess I'm on my own.  Here are eight things about me:

1. Artichokes are my favorite vegetable.  Mmmm, I love artichokes.  I also love garlic, raw and fierce.  There is no such thing as too much garlic.  If I am making a recipe to suit my own tastes, I will jack up the garlic until it gives me an endorphin buzz.


2. I went to high school with Morgan Spurlock, of "Super Size Me" fame. 


3. When I run, my face gets bright red.  Bright bright red -- all but my eyebrows, which are fairly blond and therefore stand out most bizarrely.  Perhaps this is why I run at night.


4. I still wear a T-shirt I bought at age 14, when I was Sadie Finch in my high school's production of "Up the Down Staircase."  For my costume, I wore an orange and green plaid minidress that my mother had been saving in the back of her closet since about 1969.  "That," said the drama teacher, "is the ugliest dress I have ever seen."


5. I love foreign languages but am not really fluent in anything but English.  In college I used to dream that I was in an unfamiliar place, unable to speak English and thus obliged to get by with my bits and pieces.  (While it may be a fun party trick to recite the opening of the Iliad in Greek, "Rage-- goddess, sing the rage of Achilles son of Peleus" doesn't get you very far in a dream where you need a hostel and a bank.)


6. Similarly, I can play a little bit on several different instruments but am not really proficient on any of them. My grandmother once said to me, "Imagine where you'd be if you'd focused on one instrument instead of scattering your energies around."  I wonder.


7. The topic most likely to trigger an angry conversation between my husband and me is our desktop computer, which, to his everlasting dismay, I back up in a piecemeal and erratic fashion.  He would like me to set up a cron job so the computer will back itself up systematically and at regular intervals.  Got a favorite tutorial, anyone?


8. I loathe smoked cheese.  When I was pregnant with my second son (the one who's 7 now), I bought some smoked cheddar right before the morning sickness struck. Oh, the VILENESS of that smoked cheddar -- I was afraid to open the fridge because I might get a whiff of it and hurl violently.  It just occurred to me this weekend that I am never going to like smoked cheese and so I might as well stop trying.

I'm not going to tag anyone because this one's been around for a while, but jump right in and share your own quirks if you'd like to. And your backing up strategies, if you're so inclined.

Comments

[rachel]

waitasecond - anyone who *doesn't* think artichokes are the most perfect creation ever is odd. humph.

[Becky]

Does this mean I went to hs with Morgan Spurlock, too? Should I remember him??

email me!

[Lilian]

I fully agree that liking artichokes is not odd at all, artichokes are the most delicious thing ever. Even my sons like them.