100 + Things

1. I am a middle child.
2. My parents were still married,
3. after 34 years.
4. (for better or worse, 'til death parted them)
5. My brother lives out of the country,
6. with his wife,
7. whom he met on the internet,
8. and his two children.
9. My sister still lives at home.
10. She's six years younger than me,
11. I thought she was my personal baby doll when she was born.
12. I dressed her, fed her and even changed her diapers willingly.
13. We shared a bedroom.
14. It wasn't until I was about 13 that I thought she was a pest.
15. Which lessened when moved into my own room.
16. I played viola in school - starting in the fourth grade.
17. I never practiced.
18. I don't know why - I really enjoyed playing.
19. I played all through high school.
20. I haven't really played it since.
21. My first car was a 1976 Mercury Zephyr.
22. It was three shades of yellow.
23. My parents bought it for me for $200.
24. I thought it was awesome.
25. I drove it until it died (which didn't take long).
26. I learned several important things about cars while driving the Zephyr.
27. Like: the noise a car makes when it needs power steering fluid
28. And: how to tell the transmission is slipping, therefore needing fluid.
29. Basically - all about fluids and the importance of them in cars.
30. All this was by trial and error, of course.
31. And many late phone calls to my father,
32. whom didn't enjoy being woken up,
33. to tell me how to fix my car.
34. This is how I learned to change a tire.
35. Because I didn't want to call and wake up my dad,
36. at 2 AM,
37. in the winter,
38. with snow on the ground.
39. I've only had to change one tire since then!
40. My parents have two 1968 convertible GTO's - one automatic, one 4 speed.
41. I've driven them both,
42. and was only nervous to drive the 4 speed,
43. although I should of been nervous of both.
44. Especially after losing the whole wheel off the automatic...
45. in a not-so-great part of town,
46. after being told by my parents not to go there.
47. That was on my high school graduation day,
48. which I was nearly late for, because of the GTO (or because I was doing something I shouldn't of been doing - you know, whatever...)
49. I got my first job after graduating from high school.
50. I didn't want to work there.
51. I planned on quitting as soon as I found another job.
52. I never looked for another job, though.
53. I stayed employed there for 8 years.
54. I worked through the ranks and became Store Manager.
55. That was stupid. I mean, that was a great learning experience.
56. I met my best friend, Elizabeth, during this time period.
57. I also met Tom around the same time as my best friend.
58. Elizabeth and I spent countless hours listening to Tom play guitar.
59. Which is how I learned to play guitar chords, and a couple of songs.
60. I purchased a guitar, too.
61. I moved into my last apartment while I was the Store Manager.
62. Tom helped me move and he never left.
63. I put in my notice a year after becoming Store Manager.
64. Tom got hurt less than two months into my new job.
65. I went from full time to part time,
66. and became his full time caregiver.
67. Tom and I weren't officially a 'couple' until after he broke his neck.
68. I quit my second job and went back to my first job.
69. The previous owners were like family to me.
70. I am a cake decorator now.
71. I try to avoid doing Store Manager things.
72. Tom and I have two cats. Noname (pronounced Nonahmi) and Kryptonite.
73. Although Tom was against getting the cats,
74. they're totally his!
75. I volunteer every year at a Cub Scout Day Camp.
76. My mom is the director of the camp.
77. My job is basically to be her 'right hand man'.
78. Its the only time of year I wake up at 7 AM on purpose.
79. I still don't enjoy mornings, though.
80. I'd much rather stay up until 7 AM than wake up at 7 AM.
81. This is my mother's fault, of course.
82. I own a black, 1999 9-3 convertible Saab.
83. This makes it sound like I have a lot of money.
84. I don't.
85. I found it for a great price.
86. I absolutely love my car.
87. I've wanted a convertible ever since I was a child.
88. Of course, this is because of my parents GTO's.
89. My sister has a blog about repairing the GTO's.
90. We have no idea what we're doing, though.
91. I am totally a daddy's girl.
92. I used to work on cars with him,
93. or think I was helping, anyhow.
94. My dad was diagnosed with Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer in August of 2005.
95. I remember this because he was in the hospital over my birthday.
96. The doctors told my dad he had six months to live,
97. We didn't want to believe them.
98. But, they were right.
99. I just bought a house,
100. that's wheelchair accessible for Tom!!!
101. I'm terrified of being a home owner.
102. What if I'm in over my head?!
103. My favorite color is green.
104. I could live off of Diet Coke.
105. I started drinking it before I was even concerned about my weight.
106. I figured for the amount of pop I drank, it was smarter to get used to calorie free.
107. I've recently cut back tremendously on smoking.
108. My siblings don't smoke at all.
109. My parents didn't want me to get my ears double pierced.
110. I now have 13 piercings. (7 in one ear, 5 in the other ear, one in my tongue.)
111. I would strongly suggest not getting your tongue pierced.
112. The healing process really sucked.
113. I will not take mine out, though.
114. It cost too much money to get rid of it.
115. My parents didn't want me to get tattooed.
116. I now have 3.
117. I really want a couple more.
118. I guess that makes me the 'black sheep' of my immediate family.
119. I love Tom's family.
120. I created Tom, Elizabeth and Trish's blogs and 'made' them start posting in them regularly.
121. Well, I try to get Tom to post regularly. It doesn't work often.