02.19.2003 | 7:57 pm

I have been working on my 100 things. Since I am soooo old, it was hard to keep it under 100. I also had to put everything into categories, so here goes�

Childhood
1. My childhood was fun and mostly carefree until my father passed away.
2. I have always loved and collected cats...live ones, that is!
3. I was born in Utah.
4. Our whole family moved to Arizona when I was six, to be able to live in a warmer climate for my father�s health.
5. I am a natural musician�voice, piano, violin.
6. During the summers, as a little girl, I would wake early and wander down the street to visit the neighbor�s parakeet.
7. I had freckles, which I hated, and strawberry-blonde hair which I loved.
8. I started wearing glasses in Kindergarten, but I NEVER wore them!
9. I had to get braces in 6th grade... I was really a �Bucky Beaver!�
10. In elementary school I won penmanship ribbons for my beautiful handwriting.

Family
11. I am the second of five children.
12. My older brother, the Podiatrist, is only 11 months older than me. For a month each year we are the same age.
13. We are all either red-headed, or strawberry-blonde, light skinned, freckled and of Scottish, British, German and Prussian decent.
14. Both my parents, my maternal grandmother, great-grandfather, great aunties, many cousins, myself and my daughter are all teachers.
15. My younger sister has always been my best friend.
16. My younger brothers don't remember my father but have many of his mannerisms and features.
17. My father died at age 43 leaving us at ages 14, 13, 11, 4, and 3 at the time.
18. My mother remained single and took over my Dad�s teaching position, seeing us all through college weddings, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren.
19. We are very close and consider family gatherings the most important of events.
20. Before I married my hubby, I dated his younger brother.

Relatives
21.I have four grown children~ two daughters and two sons.
22. I have three grandchildren, with hopes for many more.
23. Both daughters are college graduates as well as Son-In-Law and "special friend." Sons and DIL are in college.
24. I have 21 nieces and nephews on my side of the family and 15 on hubby�s side.
25. When I dated hubby, both sets of his grandparents lived next door to each other.
26. My mother-in-law was named Pearl, and she was a gem.
27. Hubby�s siblings and my siblings were all good friends growing up in the same town.
28. I have 42 first cousins and 11 sets of aunts and uncles.
29. Sometimes my family�its enormity�makes me weary.

Education
30. I have always liked school.
31. I always made good grades in school except for math.
32. I graduated #64 in a class of 879 from High School.
33. I attended one junior college and two universities for my under-grad degree.
34. I have a 3.8 GPA
35. I also have graduate work and additional endorsements in bilingual education, reading and music.
36. I speak Spanish fluently.
37. I also know ASL~ American Sign Language and some German.
38. My favorite aspect of my formal education was Language Acquisition courses.
39. I have NO desire to obtain a Masters Degree.

Talents and Hobbies
40. At an early age, I became the creator of all the neighborhood plays.
41. My piano playing adventures started at age 7.
42. I discovered my Dad�s old violin, made Mom it fixed up, and began playing at age 9.
43. I taught myself to listen to and sing the harmony parts in church when I was in the third grade.
44. I have performed in about 30 musical theater and little theater productions.
45. I have performed in Gypsy, Bye,Bye,Birdie, Kiss Me Kate and South Pacific twice each!
46. My all time favorite role was Fruma Sarah, the butcher�s dead wife in Fiddler on the Roof.
47. I have also played a nun, a bandit, a crazed housewife, a maid, and many other character roles in theater productions.
48. I am a very good seamstress, cross-stitcher, and crotchetier.
49. I sewed all my clothing in high school and college, the girls clothes when they were little, all their formals in high school, and Marie's wedding gown.

Travel and Vacations
50. I have traveled extensively throughout the US.
51. Hubby and I have also traveled in Europe�Britain, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria.
52. My favorite place in Germany is in the Bavarian Alps.
53. My favorite place in England is in the Lake District, where Beatrix Potter lived and worked.
54. I love the �gold rush� Highway~ California #49 in California.
55. I have been to the birthplaces or homes of: Louisa May Alcott, Carl Sandburg, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman, Wm. Shakespeare, William Wordswoth, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Beatrix Potter.
56. My mother and father-in-law took the whole family (27 of us at the time) on a three week, cross country trip for their 40th anniversary.
57. My brother, the Podiatrist and I have taken our collective families to California, Utah, The Grand Canyon, all over Arizona, and Yellowstone National Park.
58. In the past year I have traveled to Bethlehem, PA four separate times from my home in AZ.
59. I totally LOVE traveling on the east coast�no matter where!

Career
60.My first and ongoing career is mother and now grandmother.
61. I earned more money that anyone in the family babysitting as a teen.
62. I knew in 7th grade I wanted to become a teacher.
63. I was 17 when I began college.
64. My hubby and I attended Arizona State University together.
65. My favorite subjects in college were humanities, languages and social sciences.
66. I loved biology and hated geology.
67. When I began looking for full time work, I couldn�t find a teaching position in my city.
68. I traveled into the heart of the inner city of Phoenix for four years, teaching transitional, bilingual, first grade.
69. I believe I was not able to acquire a position in my town because of these factors: I was over 40, I was white and female, I was a native and also Mormon.

Things I Love
70. Melanie, Meredith and McKay, my grandchildren�more than anything!
71. Dreyer�s Ice Cream
72. Rosa�s Mexican Grill, owned by a friend and truly YUMMY!
73. Sunday dinner with the family.
74. Christmas morning.
75. The half price ticket booth in Times Square.
76. Live theater.
77. Art shows.
78. Pearls, diamonds, gold and silver jewelry.
79. My faith in God and Jesus Christ.

Things that BUG me
80. Black sock fuzz on the bathroom rugs.
81. Aggressive, rude drivers.
82. Heavy traffic.
83. Foul language.
84. Stupid movie plots.
85. Late fees at the video store.
86. The kitchen counters�all sticky.
87. An upswept floor with mysterious crunchy things, crunching beneath my feet.
88. Dirty sheets.
89. Non-supportive parents.

My Perfect World
90. Teaching half- days instead of full time.
91. My OWN new car.
92. Living out my life without the need to have any more joints replaced.
93. More free time to read and watch old movies.
94. I wish there was a cure for my DIL�s anorexia and my mother�s MS.
95. I have always wanted to sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
96. More hope and faith so as to avoid stress in my life.
97. More gratitude so as to feel contentment in my life.
98. A new refrigerator.
99. Lots of free airline miles.
100. A huge oak table with matching chairs that would seat my entire family.

This is my life in a nut shell, here amoung the squirrels.

catsnapples~ in first grade and at life

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