Saturday, December 22, 2007

Random Facts about Me

I've been TAGGED (thanks Karen!) So now I supposed to tell five random facts about myself. Well I got a little enthused about this for several reasons but here's my list. I'll post this and very soon TAG several other unsuspecting bloggers to do the same.

1. I’ve earned a graduate degree or two but I’m especially proud of jobs I’ve worked along the way: starting with cleaning lady (At a Tudor-style mansion turned nursing home.); lifeguard (Found and rescued a guy’s eyeglasses from the lake bottom but couldn’t find another guy’s dentures. Maybe by now he shuts his mouth when he swims.), mum packer at a greenhouse (from 4:00 a.m. until noon), college cafeteria (Like some OJ with your oatmeal?), resident assistant in the dorm (“Quiet hour, room check. . .quiet hour, room check”) and paint crew for school district (painting classrooms, stadium buildings and stripes on the football field). In between, I taught home economics 22 years.

2. I spent the bicentennial in Sydney, Australia along with 300-some others recruited to teach there for two years. Petted a koala and a kangaroo and ate shark fin soup. Also I can sing Waltzing Matilda upon request.

3. As a child I cut off my eyelashes. This was to spite my parents for going on about our baby sister’s beautiful lashes although they had never noticed mine. Hopefully they learned their lesson. I also gave myself haircuts as a child because I liked the sound of the scissors cuttng hair. Somehow Mom always knew afterward.

4. I sing decent alto and can harmonize pretty well thanks to having sat near excellent altos in church – starting in Australia. Oddly enough, throughout high school and college I wanted to be a super-star soprano or even an okay soprano but alas, it was not to be. Now I’m the only alto in our whole congregation and wish there were another alto-wanna-be for me to mentor.

5. I’ve never been engaged and I’ve never gone steady but I’ve always wanted to wear a guy’s class ring on a chain around my neck. I seem to be a little behind in that area. Or maybe I’m ahead! Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if someday I marry a nice widower. In the meantime, help me watch the obits, would you please?

6. I would love to visit Mt Ararat and see Noah’s Ark there on the eastern edge of Turkey. I’ve been within several hundred miles but understand that visiting the ark itself is not feasible nowadays for political reasons. Still I think helicoptering in there with a team of experts – a good local guide or two, a historian, a geologist would be the ultimate travel adventure.

7. The main thing I could really use for Christmas is a can of Crisco, solid vegetable shortening. This is the land of unsalted butter, for pity sake. I’m going to try again and scour the supermarkets for something Crisco-ish. How else can a person make decent icing for Christmas cookies?

8. Twenty-some years ago I ran almost daily. As I recall, I ran 36 10-k races, the Dallas Turkey Trot (8 miles) five times and two half marathons. I loved running and miss it. Never speedy of course, I just always kept running to the next stop sign or for another ten minutes. All that was a kilogram or two ago...

9. At the top of my list of heroes are mothers. I’m in awe of women who have raised families and considered it a calling. Teaching children to love God, nature, and books. Showing children the joy of serving others and being part of a cause bigger than themselves. Nancy Pelosi, mother of five, grandmother of six said something like, Being a mother is what prepared me to be Speaker of the House.

10. I have a timer in almost every room of the house. Using a timer helps me get things done in 15-minute baby steps. Like Flylady says, you can do anything for 15 minutes!

6 comments:

Jenny said...

What a fun post to read. Too funny about the eyelashes.

Charity said...

Great post! I can relate with having a plethora of odd jobs in the course of my life, including resident assistant (we didn't have quiet hour, but it wouldn't have been a bad idea to implement one every once in a while)

Karen Fisher-Alaniz said...

This is great Eileen! You did a fine job and by the way, you are super-cool...still. What an interesting life you've had and continue to have. I don't have a timer in every room but I do the same thing. I take my traveling-timer to each room and clean for X-amount of time. I choose a different number of minutes depending on how I am feeling. Today it was 4 minutes. And I'm tellin' you...it's amazing what you can get done when you focus on one thing.

Again- great job on the tag Eileen!

Karen

Eileen said...

Hello Jenny, thank you for a comment. Somehow though I imagine You were a perfectly sedate young lady and never did any such thing even as a child. Am I right?

Charity, hey - you're the funny one. Loved your recent blog about *such things* - surprising though, that you didn't end up in the wallpaper-design business. ;)

Karen - You're the one who roped me into this. Thank You! So neat to think through what to include and it did make me think quite a lot! And thanks for the kind words. I'm still laughing about anybody imagining that I might be *cool!* But thanks! ;)

Rose said...

Eileen
I am late to this post but once again, you have amazed me. I can travel from my sofa, reading your adventures.
Rose

Eileen said...

Hey Rose, thanks for your kind words. And just to Show You how widely travelled I really am, I've overnighted in KNOXVILLE TENNESSEE! Got to stay with Gma and Gpa (Runny?) and that was a wonderful time in the woods. Seems that they had spent the day at the *sweatshop*? =)