Day 19: Here's the Thing (or 30)

1. I’ve only been on horseback about 5 times in the last year. It’s a big change for me. And not a change that I like. I need to get myself a horse because I miss riding.

2. I have a very addictive personality. If I like a tv series or a book series, I’m all about it til I finish them. For example, I recently started watching Supernatural. The weekend after I started it, I banned myself from watching it for the weekend because I was watching way too much of it. And that’s how it was when I started watching Doctor Who. And reading the Wingfeather Saga.

 

3. I have 4 visible scars other than those from chicken pox. One is from a game that we made for 4-H. We were playing on it when it was half dismantled, and I fell off and sliced my arm open. One is from cutting my leg open while stripping the insulation off of wire for a 4-H project (dang…4-H was dangerous for me…). One is from an ex who accidentally bit me on the forehead when I sneezed. The last is from a chicken who was flying to get food in the dark. It ran into my face with its talon and cut my cheek open.

My war wound...from a chicken. Yeah...Told the Hebron kids that I train fighting roosters.
They totally believed me.

4. I’ve been to 7 countries thus far, and I think that this is a pathetically small number and I really need to remedy it. I don’t count the various countries where I’ve only been in the airport.

5. I think that the radio version of The Twilight zone is one of the creepiest things ever made. Just listen to this one. There is no way that the mostly simple, nonviolent plots they use should be that creepy, but holy heck, they are...Just hearing the intro music gives me the heebie-jeebies. And...I don't think I have ever used that term before.

6. My least favourite physical feature is probably my forehead. It’s freaking ginormous.

I rest my case...

7. As much as I’ve seen it, it still makes my heart happy to see Leaf and Marius snuggling together.

8. I am very loyal to people, but when I feel that they are not invested in the friendship, I am done. And once I am done, I no longer have any interest in the friendship. It’s a bit of a bad way to be, but that’s just how it is. And no, it doesn’t mean that I have a lot of people I hate. I literally do not care. I don’t care enough to waste energy hating them. I’ve read before that hatred is a strong emotion to waste on someone you don’t like, and that’s true. I’m just not bothered at all.

9. Sometimes I sit and read a bunch of the books my Mom used to read to us when we were little. Just because. It’s not anything where I’m trying to revert to my childhood, it’s just that I enjoy it. I didn’t actually read those books when I was little. I pretty much started reading chapter books. Mom would read the smaller books to us. So I enjoy reading through them on occasion.

If you've never read the Barely There books, you're missing out.
If you have kids and you want to be a good parent, buy these books
and read them to your kid(s)

 

10. I love the Father Gilbert mysteries by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. I think part of the reason is that it is so strange that FotF actually makes things that aren’t just sweet and wholesome. Some of the mysteries are actually fairly grim. Such as this one, called The Grey Lady

11. I read. A lot. Books, magazines, blogs, etc. And often not terribly happy things. That said, there have been a number of things over the years that have made me tear up. But I can only recall 7 things in my years of reading that made me genuinely cry. The end of Les Miserables, this article, the book One Hundred and Four Horses, reading articles about Gisella Perl, The Wingfeather Saga, and (I realize this sounds pompous, but it really isn't) a story that I wrote that is in the book I published. I'm not the type that thinks a book that makes me cry is a bad book (Les Mis is my absolute favourite book, and I love the Wingfeather books...). To be able to evoke that much emotion is a powerful thing (I knew where I was coming from with the story I wrote, so that makes it easier to feel the emotion. It's not that the writing is all that good)

12. I'd be perfectly happy if I could  make a living with knitting and sewing, maybe with a bit of baking as well. I've been called an old lady because I enjoy those domestic pursuits so much.

13. I try to make a good effort to read things that are popular, whether they are "classics" or currently popular. There have been many times though that I do not agree with everyone who claims the book was so good. A couple of examples of this would be The Count of Monte Christo (not really sure how it ever became a classic, but that's just me), and The Notebook (I like Nicholas Sparks, I just don't like that book. I was bored by it). One of the good things about reading as fast as I do is that I can read all sorts of totally off the wall books (see the next point), as well as keeping up with books that are popular. It is of course impossible for me to read everything, but I read a pretty decent cross-section.

14. We found this book at a flea market once. I don't remember if it was just super cheap or why we picked it up. We don't usually buy books unless we know we like them. But this one was a good buy. It is called "Behind the Attic Wall". It's about a girl who finds a hidden room in the house where she is sent to live with two maiden Aunts. There are dolls behind the wall, and they are alive. It's actually a really bittersweet book, definitely not a feel good kids' story. But for some reason, even though it makes me sad, I have read it numerous times. I often forget about it when asked about my favourite books, but it would likely be in the top 5.

15. I wish I could sing. I feel like I used to be able to sing pretty well, never anything spectacular, but ok. But now I just can't sing very well at all. I'm not entirely sure if I just had more misplaced confidence when I was younger and thought I could sing well when I really couldn't, or if I've sort of forgotten how to sing. It's sad though.


16. I will always be able to say that I was the groom in a wedding. Of  course, being a groom meant that I got the carriage horse ready and held him while the ceremony was going on, and rode next to the driver, etc., etc. But still, I was a groom in a wedding, and I don't know many other girls who can say that :~)

"I wear a bow tie now...Bow ties are cool."

17. I give credit to the story The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry for the fact that I have never been afraid of being kidnapped. Though, to be honest, most of the credit goes to my Grampa for telling me the story and informing me that, if I were so unlucky as to be kidnapped, my kidnappers would pay my parents to take me back (just as Red Chief's kidnappers do in the story) rather than keep me around. Yes, I felt very loved as a child :~P

18. I have a very hard time going to sleep at night. I will insist up one side and down the other that I will be in bed by midnight (early by my standards), and then it's 2 o'clock before I even start to think of going to bed.

19. Speaking of bed, I sleep with my dogs. And Marius when he can be bothered to find a spot on the bed. He usually sleeps on my hoody on  the couch. Half the time, they drive me nuts. It probably takes me on average an extra half hour to fall asleep when I have them there than it does to fall asleep when I have the bed to myself. Or when it's just Marius and me, because he doesn't take up so much room. Though he does like to sleep on my face, and let me tell you, trying to breath through cat hair doesn't work so well. Anyway, the dogs steal the blankets (or just lay on them and I can't get blankets out from under them. The shift around constantly, trying to be sure that no one else has a better spot, and if someone is found to have a better spot, they start bickering over who gets to keep that spot (Cosette usually wins...). Some nights I'm about to send them all to sleep in their crates. We've had dogs using crates for years now,  and they actually like their crates. But then everyone settles down, and I have one dog snuggled up to my chest, and one laying on my legs, and Marius most likely trying to suffocate me, and I realize that I prefer dealing with their antics and having them around to falling asleep faster but without them around to snuggle.

20. I've run out of things for this list, and suddenly I have this feeling that I really need to have a more interesting life.


21. I love snow. You probably are aware of this by now. I have 2 things that I'd say are my favourite things to do in the snow. For the first, you have to have a grey snowy day. One of those where the sky is solidly grey, and you can't even see the texture of the clouds. This kind of day is usually not a popular day. No one likes the grey days. But if it's grey like that and snowing heavily (better if it's huge flakes), lay on horseback on your back (bareback is best, or you'll have a saddle sticking into your back...). If you're in the middle of a field where you don't have trees jutting into your view, that's best. It feels as though you're floating and completely surrounded by grey with the snow swirling into your face. It's hard to explain. Best if you just do it on your own. But be ready for sudden movements from your horse. Mine would always try to paw through the snow to get at the grass underneath. I almost came off the first couple of times I experienced that :~)
For the second, you wait til the middle of the night. A moonlit night is nice, but if it's super snowy, it'll be bright enough even without the moon. Anyway, go out to a field (yes, fields are good places for snow) where there is a lot of untouched snow. Trot across the field (a canter would work too. Gram preferred a fast trot to a canter, so that is what we usually did. You just want a bit of speed.). Without any shadow but your own, or footprints to show the ground passing away beneath you, it feels as though you aren't going anywhere. Your horse is moving fast, your body can tell that. Wind is swirling around you and you get the sensations of movement, but your eyes tell you that you aren't moving at all (those dang liars...).
So yes, basically, my favourite snowy activities have to do with  horses and optical illusions. The snow aids  the illusion, and really, horses and snow make life better in general, so of course they would be good together.

22. I used to have a very hard time sleeping if there was light or sound in the room. I think the thing that cured it was being stuck in the Sao Paulo Airport both while on my way to and from Manaus. I was bored and I was tired, and I laid across my luggage and fell asleep. Now I can fall asleep pretty much anywhere. Buses actually put me to sleep, which isn't a positive thing. It's funny, because they put Marius to sleep too, which then makes me feel even sleepier.

ok, this is on a plane, not a bus, but it's the same basic idea.

23. I read a ton of Calvin and Hobbes. Partly because I identify way too much with Calvin. And not just looking back and saying “yeah, I was a lot like him as a little kid.” No…I identify with him right now. Whatever that says about me…

 

 

24. Whenever someone tries to scare me about what could happen, I feel the need to “cry wolf”. For example, the first time my folks left the 3 of us home alone for a couple of weeks, there was a lady at church who kept talking about how worried she was that there would be a fire and our house would burn down. I think we called her at least twice while Mom and Dad were gone, and told her that the house burnt down. And she took us seriously. If you laugh just right while telling a story, it sounds like you’re sobbing.

 

25. I have a surprisingly positive view of my looks, despite my typical negative view of, well, pretty much everything. I’ve been through times of, “no wonder I’m single, I’m ugly…blah, blah, blah…” but now I just figure I’m mostly happy with the way I look. Maybe I’d look better if I made more of an effort, but I’m not that interested. So I am happy with how I am.

 

26. Maybe you’ve heard the term FOMO...It means Fear Of Missing Out. It’s that fear that if you leave a party early, something amazing will happen, and you’ll miss it. I have FOGS. It’s Fear Of Getting Stuck. I often won’t want to go to a party or anything of that sort without knowing that I have a way of leaving if I get bored or if I am simply done with being around people. It’s ok if I drive myself, because then I can leave when I want to. But riding with other people who may want to stay late is tough.


27. I’m way too critical during movies/tv shows. Especially when they’re dealing with horses. Probably part of the reason I like fantasy movies so much. When they’re dealing with magic, there’s no frame of reference whereby to judge what they’re doing.

 

28. I would rather sleep in a cold room than a hot room. I love to burrow under a big pile of covers to stay warm (I don’t actually like being cold when I’m sleeping…at all), and I cannot stand sweating while I sleep. I had a few weeks this past summer where, even with a fan on, I was miserably hot at night. And it was even worse when the power went out. I’m convinced that this is why it took Leaf so long to learn to cuddle, because it was too hot for either of us to even consider cuddling while we slept. She’s starting to like it though, which is lovely, because now she keeps me nice and warm. Especially on our “three dog nights”, during which I am lucky to have 3 dogs to cuddle with.

 

29. I pretty much avoid going to the doctor at all costs…I don’t like people I don’t know touching me, and I don’t like having needles stuck in me (weird that I am bothered by it since my arms and legs are usually covered with scratches and punctures from animal claws). I figure the doctor won’t tell me anything I don’t already know. Usually it’s just a matter of rest, and if I am able to rest, I am already resting, but if I am unable to rest, it won’t matter what the doctor tells me.

 

30. I frequently ask myself (and my Mom) what the heck is wrong with me. For a lot of reasons. I know the whole “God doesn’t make junk” thing, but just because he makes something good, that doesn’t mean it’ll stay good forever. I mean, the earth was created perfect, and it sure is jacked up now. So I wonder sometimes what it was that made  me into something I’m not entirely sure that I like.