Forty Things About Me.

1) My eyes look brown, but they really aren't. They are mostly green with just a small star of brown in the middle.

2) I have naturally curly hair and it drives me crazy. When you have straight hair you can wake up in the morning, brush it, and go. When you wake up in the morning with curly hair you have a mass of tangled stuff all over your head and brushing it would only turn it into a fuzzy mass of stuff. My hair bugs me.

3) I don't like my legs and, so, I rarely wear skirts or dresses. But, I wish I could wear skirts and dresses more. I think they look so pretty.

4) I have a huge scar down the front of my left knee and a few on my left arm as a result of being hit by a car in my twenties. I had to have surgery on both and now I have a rod and some screws in my arm and three large screws in my knee.

5) I had to be in a wheelchair for awhile after that and I've discovered that people think you are stupid when they see you sitting in a wheel chair. Why your lack of ability to walk should have anything to do with your mental ability...I don't know. But, I was glad (and lucky) to get out of that chair after a few months. I actually had a woman working in a store offer me a piece of candy, like she was talking to a 6 year old, when I was in the wheelchair.

6) I was going to school to become a Veterinary Technician when the accident happened. I've been a Vet. Tech. for a long time now.

7) I plan on a total career change (hopefully) within about a year

8) I love animals. Too much to have a job taking care of them, actually. My favourite pet ever was my ferret named Molly. She was incredibly smart and sweet. That may be hard for you to believe but, I'll tell you, the first thing she always did when she woke up was run around the apartment looking for me. When she found me she would run up on top of me, give me a little kiss, then run back down and go play. She was amazing. Her and my dog Emmy (who I adopted from school) were just the best. I miss them a lot.

9) My dad died when I was 12. I remember that he smoked a pipe, had huge hands, and always kept jelly beans in his shirt pocket.

10) I can't remember the sound of his voice.

11) I never thought I was going to have kids. Until I met my husband.

12) We have three girls (Maddie 6, Jamie 4, and Colie 3 months).

13) I can juggle.

14) My grade 12 art teacher made me promise her that I would continue to study Art in University. I took English instead. I should have kept that promise.

15) For what it's worth: I'm Irish, I was born a red-head, and I'm a Taurus.

16) My fake bar-name was "Kendra Hayes". As it turns out Dave had one, too - "Mike Starr".

17) I love coffee. I don't drink a ton of it, but if I don't get a cup in me by 10 o'clock I'll have a headache for the rest of the day.

18) I love 80's pop music and I was a member of the Corey Hart Fan club. I received a two page letter from him once as well as two letters from his mom, Mindy.

19) I lived in the house, next to the parking lot, where Kristen French was abducted. It was very strange seeing my old house in the newspapers for such a tragic reason.

20) When I was in high school my best friend and I were chased all the way home by a maniac in a white van. He followed us into surveys and even drove his van across the school yard trying to get us. We finally made it to my house (without him seeing where we went) and we hid there until he drove away. The police were called to look for him, but I'm not sure if he was ever caught.

21) Also when I was in high school - I had a maniac reach out of a truck and try to grab me off my bicycle while I was cycling with my friend. She was yelling behind me for me to look out and I managed to veer away in time. There have been a few maniac run-ins in my life come to think of it.

22) I think I am a bit agoraphobic now. I'm guessing that stuff would be why.

23) I like to go for walks around my little neighbourhood, but walking in crowded areas or places where there is more traffic gives me panic attacks.

24) I don't think that I am shy. I think I am just quiet. I find listening to other people more interesting than listening to me: I already know my own stories.

25) My Mom and Dad met in a bowling alley. Dave and I met in a bowling alley.

26) I used to be a vegetarian and I wish I was again. I'm working on it. Eating meat really bothers me. I hate having to think and worry and stress about my food. It is so much easier for me to just eat tofu.

27) I can not take the cold. I find it painful. Seriously. I hate winter.

28) I love the heat. It can't really get too hot for me. I love the summer and I can feel all my back muscles starting to relax once the temperature goes over 25.

29) Dave and I were married on a beach in Jamaica. Just the two of us. That was the best decision ever.

30) Other than photography, my biggest extravagance for the wedding was my $300 veil which I wore for about one hour. I don't regret that at all. It was so beautiful.

31) I love rhubarb. My favourite dessert is a pie with rhubarb and any kind of berry.

32) I love Indian food, and Thai food, and even some Mexican food. I don't like Mediterranean food. I don't like feta cheese, or olives, or oily/vinegary kind of concoctions. I do love spice.

33) I have an incredibly great little family. I wonder sometimes how it all happened. My hubby and my kids are something I never even imagined for myself.

34) I moved 10 times between birth and grade eight and went to 6 different schools by the time I was in grade 6.

35) My favourite memories as a kid are the sound of the rain hitting the canvas part of our camper-tent when we went up north in the summer, waking up to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking on the weekend, and my dad bringing me boxes of timbits with all the kinds I liked...in the right numbers of each.

36) I was named after my Mom, by my Dad.

37) My parents had two boys together before they got pregnant with me. I was told my father was really hoping for a girl. I was born the day before his birthday.

38) I am a night-owl. If it was up to me (which it isn't), I'd go to bed at about 2 in the morning, and get up around 10.

39) Every year on my birthday my dad would buy me a pink rose. After he died, without my even thinking about it, my mom started to bring me a pink rose. She has never missed a year of keeping up that tradition. She said my Dad would have wanted it that way.

40) It's my 40th birthday today. My Dad would have been 80 tomorrow.

Time flies.