Huge congrats to Rebekah on the birth of Ronan Tobias!

5 things you don’t know about me.

Okay – so I’ve been tagged by Gearhead Mama and I’m supposed to tell you five things you don’t already know about me.

My first thought – this is much harder for me than it was for Gearhead, Mb or Leigh – each relatively new to blogging. Do you know I’ve been plugging away at this online writing thing for six years now? SIX! I started at the very beginning of my pregnancy with Bella, writing on my very own website (I can’t believe it is still active - please don’t laugh at cheesy geocities webpage design) continued to iParenting (my Babies Today diary is here, and part of my Mom’s Today diary is here – but a huge portion has disappeared).

I’ve spilled a lot of secrets, aired a bunch of dirty laundry and let a few skeletons out of the closet during those years. Sure, there’s stuff you don’t know about me – but I’m thinking it is mostly stuff I’m never going to tell you anyway (unless you get me drunk. I like a good margarita – in case you’re wondering). I mean, after my confessions post, what is there left to say?

So – what little tidbits can I come up with to fill in my Holidailies commitment and respond to this tag? Let’s see…

1. I spent a particularly miserable portion of my adolescence (painfully shy, greasy hair, acne ridden, stick skinny, all the wrong clothes) at such a level of social rejection that I would go to the mall near our school and walk around by myself for the entire lunch hour. I did this to avoid having to sit in the cafeteria with the other misfits, losers and geeks. I knew I was unpopular, but I sure didn’t want to publicly acknowledge it. Luckily I apparently blossomed somewhat (although I remained horribly acne prone) and the remainder of my school days were, aside from regularly scheduled periods of normal teenage angst, rather enjoyable.

2. I live with my head in the sand regarding our household finances. I could not tell you what we have in the bank account, what bills have to be paid, what I’ve spent on food in the last month. My husband does all that stuff, and I choose to remain totally (blissfully?) ignorant most of the time. I’m kind of ashamed of this, but not enough to try to take over any of the financial duties.

3. I never, ever totally let down my guard and let people get 100% close to me. Aside from Julianna’s birth, I don’t think I’ve ever let myself be completely vulnerable in front of anyone. I try, I really do – I just can’t ever seem to break down the walls. There are people in my life right now that I would like to let past all the defenses; I just don’t know how to do it.

4. I used to be a true animal lover. We rescued both of our dogs from the side of the road. One of our cats was rescued from a mean boy at our apartment complex who had unintentionally broken has leg, the other was a deaf, feral rescue who hated us for the entire time she lived with us. We volunteered with a cat rescue group, trapping feral cats for a spay/neuter release program, and working in the Petsmart adoption center one weekend a month. At one point we had four cats and three dogs. We doted on those animals, even took Sadie to San Diego with us when she was a puppy.

Then we had kids and the poor animals got bumped far, far down on the list. We don’t take them anywhere, the dogs rarely get walked – and quite honestly I often find them more annoying than enjoyable (especially the damn cat who pees everywhere but his litter box). Don’t get me wrong – I love the animals – I just want someone else to take care of them and give them attention most of the time. I feel guilty about this – but again – not guilty enough to do anything about it.

5. I really, really, really like disgusting, processed foods. I have a love affair left over from childhood with Chef-Boy-Ardee. I love a good, greasy Four Cheese Hot Pocket (in Canada a Pillsbury Pizza Pop) and there’s little better than a piping hot McDonald’s French Fry. I have been known to buy and eat an entire package of cookie dough (in Canada, McCain Deep and Delicious Chocolate Cake). I don’t eat the really, really bad stuff more than once or twice a year; our regular groceries include organic dairy, lean cuts of hormone free meat, whole grain breads and pasta, brown rice, etc. I’m a compulsive label reader and try not to buy anything with partially hydrogenated oils, or high fructose corn syrup – but still sometimes I just can’t help myself. When I eat the bad stuff, I go for the REALLY bad stuff – and ummmmm…. I enjoy it.

There, I did it. Now I’m gonna tag (I’ve never done this before) Jen H, Amy, Jane, Brooke and Brenda.

We leave for Disney tomorrow – so my Holidailies posting will be a bit interrupted – unless I have a connection at the hotel and can steal a few moments to sign online. I’ll try to post extra on our return to make up for the lost days…we’ll be back Monday night!