100 things about me

In honor of my 100th post on From the Planet of Janet, I hereby present ...

ONE HUNDRED THINGS ABOUT ME

So let's see:

1. Um ...
2. Well, that's a good start. Not.
3. OK, so, um... So I wanted to have a blog for a long time.
4. But I was afraid.
5. Mostly I was afraid I wouldn't be very good at it.
6. Or I'd have writer's block.
7. I still don't know if I'm any good at it, but it sure is fun.
8. I'm addicted to ice cream.
9. My favorite flavors involve coffee first and chocolate second.
10. But I really prefer my ice cream to have STUFF in it. I want to FEEL my ice cream.
11. So I will put chocolate chips in it if it's just plain.
12. I have a potty mouth.
13. I always have.
14. When I was little (as young as 9), my parents used to call me "sweet lips" for that very reason.
15. My mother now has a vocabulary that puts me to shame.
16. She's almost 78.
17. I don't think she learned it from me.
18. But I think my kids did.
19. I sing.
20. A lot.
21. My best friend sings in a chorus with me.
22. That's actually how we met.
23. Except we're actually cousins.
24. And didn't know it at the time.
25. We have been thrown out of Starbucks because we were singing Christmas carols.
26. OUTSIDE.
27. I am a total Mac person ... PCs confound me.
28. I always dream in living color.
29. We have more pets in our house than people.
30. Two dogs. Three turtles. A bearded dragon. Five (yes five) aquariums filled with fish.
31. Some of the fish are vicious.
32. I hate fish.
33. They swim in their own pee.
34. I love Scrabble.
35. I'm cutthroat.
36. I don't like to lose.
37. When I'm home, the TV is always on.
38. I like it for background noise.
39. In fact, I can't fall asleep without the TV on.
40. This drives my husband cuh-razy.
41. But we also are both so cuh-razy about certain shows that we have the VCR set up to record them EVERY week.
42. Just in case we miss one by accident.
43. Yeah, we still use a VCR -- cuz we're old school that way.
44. I want to get DVR.
45. Wonderhubby doesn't want to pay for it.
46. I'm going to win that battle -- eventually.
47. I could eat the same thing every day without getting bored.
48. I don't have the cleaning gene.
49. In fact, I'm basically a slob.
50. My kids come by their slovenliness honestly.
51. I do straighten up before the cleaning lady gets there.
52. Otherwise it's too embarrassing.
53. I don't like being embarrassed.
54. It's just so embarrassing.
55. I hate "I Love Lucy."
56. It gives me the total ootchies when you know she is going to get in trouble and there is nothing that can stop it.
57. I'm a klutz.
58. I can trip over a painted line.
59. But I love to dance.
60. My dream vacation is going to Tahiti, but I can't begin to tell you why.
61. I went to Japan last May.
62. While I was there, I was made up and dressed up like a geisha.
63. I don't know why I did it, but it was hysterically fun and I don't regret a single second of it.
64. I also made tea and served it in a real tea ceremony.
65. The tea was awful.
66. I have been married three times.
67. Obviously I am a slow learner.
68. But I did good this time.
69. I am both a divorcee and a widow.
70. I'm only a widow, though, because my second husband died before the divorce was final.
71. I don't miss him at all.
72. The only decent thing he did for me is father my daughter.
73. My daughter calls me her best friend.
73. Although I know that isn't really true, it makes me smile that, at 13, she can say that with a straight face.
74. People tell me she looks like me, but I know that she doesn't.
75. I am so not a morning person.
76. But for two years, I held a second job where I opened and worked out at a women's gym at 7 a.m. six days a week.
77. And when I hurt my back and couldn't do the workout there anymore, I got up at 5 a.m. to swim before going to work.
78. Since I quit the second job, I have gotten lazy about swimming.
79. I need to get my fat butt back into the pool.
80. My favorite colors are purple and blue.
81. My favorite flower is the rose.
82. But not red ones. Yellow, white or peach, please!
83. When we were dating, my husband used to leave roses from his garden in the door handle of my car.
84. He proposed to me in front of about 500 people.
85. I think mayonnaise is the devil's condiment.
86. I love love love country music.
87. Toby Keith is my "free pass." (This means if he showed up on my doorstep, Wonderhubby would kiss me goodbye and tell me to have a good time.)
88. Despite my efforts to the contrary, I am a chronic disappointment to my parents. (No protests, please, this is a proven fact.)
89. HOWEVER, because of this, I cherish the no-holds-barred relationship I have with my kids.
90. I am horribly shy.
91. It makes me not so fun at parties.
92. But once I get comfortable with a situation or with people, my dry, sarcastic wit comes out.
93. I want to cry every time I hear "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol.
94. And stuff -- movies, songs -- just DOESN'T make me cry.
95. The Romanian peasant woman in me doesn't like not having a comfortable balance in a savings account.
96. Ten years ago, I didn't have a checking account or a credit card.
97. I've come a long way, baby.
98. It has taken a lot of therapy and the support of a very very good friend, but I came out of my "bad years" as a stronger, happier, more secure woman.
99. I am grateful for every day I have with my husband and my family.
100. I have really found my happily ever after.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is that.