In honor of my 300th post . . . 100 things about me

1. As the story goes, I should have been a David (my parents were sure I'd be a boy).
2. I'm glad I'm a girl. Most of the time!
3. I had exit issues as an infant - again, as the story goes, my parents couldn't think of a name for me for a few days after I was born. Very unlike today when names are often determined months in advance.
4. I never liked my name as a kid. It seemed too mature for a little kid like me.
5. I always wished to be called Katie.
6. But I do like Dianne now. As long as you spell it right.
7. Two "n's" is phonetically correct, you know.
8. That's important to someone like me, an English major!
9. Or at least I wanted to be an English major.
10. But the college I went to required you to have 2 teaching fields, rather than a major and a minor. Go figure. That was the least of the weird things about that college!
11. Back to my name. I am one of 3 Di's in my department at work.
12. We all sit in a row. And it's a real pain when customers call and ask for Diane.
13. One of the others is moving to a different department next week. But wait - that's not about me!
14. Anyways, to help eliminate confusion, I go by "Dee" to customers.
15. So I'm having an identity crisis.
16. Which is kind of funny in itself. Because the abbreviation for "identity" is "I.D." and when I was a kid, my little sis couldn't pronounce my name and she called me "ID" - and that has stuck with my family for years.
17. So enough about my name right? Well, anyways it's only my dad that still calls me I.D.
18. But he also has a song for me. It's to the tune of "Little Brown Jug." "Little I.D., how I love thee . . . "
19. And then I chime in.
20. He usually whistles this to me.
21. And he hugs me right in front of everyone at church, which is funny to us because he's an usher and probably ushers shouldn't be hugging the women! But he was my dad first!
22. But first he was my mom's beau.
23. I only have a few pictures of my parents together from years ago.
    
24. Not because my mom isn't a shutterbug. No way - she's always taking pictures (or having them taken).
25. But because when I was about 12 years old, our home burned to the ground.
26. Not just our home, which was a mobile home. But also the house we were building next to the trailer.
27. Thankfully none of my family were home that day.
28. We moved back in the following December, and my parents have lived there ever since.
29. And "there" is "out in the country." Way out. Like at least ten miles from the nearest pizza shop!
    
30. I've been married nine years to my sweetheart.
31. My sister and I both began dating our spouses in September, got engaged in February and were married in October.
32. And both of us married guys with last names beginning with "P" so our initials are both DP now.
33. I've never traveled west of Chicago.
34. But I have been across the Atlantic twice.
35. Once when I was four, my mom and gram took my sister and me to Europe on the USS Rotterdam and we caught up with my uncle who was studying there.
36. And ten - no make that sixteen - years ago, my mom and gram and I went to Ireland.
37. I'd go to Ireland again in a heartbeat.
38. But I still have no great desire to travel west of Chicago.
39. Although I wouldn't mind seeing my old roommate from college.
    
40. There were three of us freshmen in a six-room, and we found it odd that we were all born in October, just days apart, and had all been valedictorians of our senior classes.
41. Of course, that's not saying much for me, seeing as there were only ten students in my graduating class.
42. Although I did work hard for the honor, a goal I set for myself in seventh grade.
    
43. Did I mention my birthday is in October?
    
44. I only mention it because it's my favorite month of the year.
    
45. Which falls of course, in my favorite season.
    
46. I'm pretty pleased that all the mums I planted last fall came back this year and are ready to burst forth with color. And they're huge!
47. And hey, I'm halfway through this list.
48. And so are you. I think you got the short end of the stick!
49. I can speak a bit of Spanish and a bit of sign language, both of which have gotten me in trouble.
50. When we were in Ireland, a group of French people at a dinner show were asking if anyone spoke French. And I let on that I spoke Spanish. Big mistake because I ended up having to interpret most of the evening for them - a difficult feat with my rusty Spanish.
51. And once in my late twenties, I offered to interpret the midweek service for a deaf young man.
52. Later that week, he called to ask me out.
    
53. Which wasn't a big deal, except he called using TTY - the deaf phone service, where someone else actually does the talking for the deaf person.
    
54. I'm afraid it freaked me out a bit. And no, we never went out.
55. But then it doesn't take much to freak me out.
    
56. Ever since I was a kid, I've had these weird nightmares where I wake up screaming that a bug or snake or spider is attacking me.
57. Which is weird, because growing up in the country, I'm really not afraid of bugs or snakes or spiders.
58. In fact, I'm the resident bug and spider killer here for my self-proclaimed city boy.
59. He will admit he doesn't like bugs. But it gets pretty bad when he tries to kill the bugs in my nightmares, instead of just waking me up and consoling me!
60. I'm a country girl at heart. Give me wide open spaces and stars in an expansive sky above at night.
61. But I'm married to a city-boy (who doesn't like bugs).
    
62. When my husband and I were looking for a house, we had to compromise between my need for space and his need for close proximity to all things pizza. So we live in suburbia.
    
63. Which I'm kind of okay with, because I do have a huge backyard, surrounded on three sides by woods and nature.
64. We have all the wildlife you could wish for: deer, rabbits, groundhogs and scores of birds.
65. And we live four doors away from his parents, which surprisingly I'm okay with that too.
66. We're both very close to our families, which is one thing I really love about my husband.
67. I have two nieces and four nephews.
68. And thankfully, all of our parents are still living.
69. I don't know where I'd be without my parents.
70. But even more, I don't know where I'd be without my Savior Jesus Christ.
71. I became a Christian when I was ten years old. I still remember that day as if it were yesterday. But that's a whole 'nuther post!
    
72. I hate most housework, but I do love a clean house!
73. I love to garden. Well, perhaps I should say I love my garden. Right now my front flower bed is so overgrown, I see hear my little asters peeking out from behind the the dying black-eyed Susans and purple coneflower blocking their view. No one would know I love to garden.
    
74. But the birds like the seeds from those plants. So that's my excuse for letting it go for now.
    
75. I love to cook. I have since I was about eight years old.
    
76. I think I'd rather cook than eat.
    
77. But even more so, I love to read cookbooks and cooking magazines and recipes.
78. I especially like specialty cookbooks. Like my Jan Karon Mitford Reader & Cookbook. Or my 1001 Lowfat Soups and Stews. Or recipes from different nationalities.
    
79. I guess in general you could say I love books.
80. I love collecting books almost as much as I love reading books.
    
81. As far as collections go, my passion is old books. Specifically old history, literature and poetry books. I have about twenty such tomes in all, my prize being one on the life of Andrew Jackson, written in the 1870's!
82. Is that about me?
83. Some other things about me. I'm a perfectionist. A little too much at times.
84. But I can be pretty laid back at the same time. Go figure.
    
85. I don't mind dressing up once in a while, but I hate anything polyester, silky blouses and heels.
86. I am most comfortable in a nice pair of jeans. As much as I love my shorts and going barefoot in the summer, it sure is great to haul out the jeans and sweatshirts come fall.
87. But t-shirts are my other wardrobe essential. But not just your everyday t-shirt. I really like a good soft high quality t-shirt, such as the Life is Good line. Or t-shirts from places we go. Unfortunately I see nothing wrong with spending $20 on a good t-shirt. But then I've had some last ten years or more.
    
88. I really don't even like to shop for clothes. It's much easier to shop online or wait until my mom decides to clean out her closet and hope some of the fallout looks good on me.
    
89. But if I do go shopping, I want it to be with my sister.
    
90. I might be addicted to blogging.
91. I've been blogging since June 2004.
    
92. But in addition to blogging, I recently started my own (albeit floundering!) writing business.
93. And I have about gazillion magazine article ideas started.
    
94. And I'm attempting to learn HTML and Corel Paint Shop Pro.
    
95. I'm beginning to think I might have a short attention span.
96. I tend to start a lot of projects and never finish them.
97. But I sure do have fun starting them.
    
98. I started this post two weeks ago.
    
99. But that's okay, because I just actually reached 299 posts the other day.
100. And this makes 100 things you probably didn't need to know about me! Aren't you glad I didn't go for 300? Whew, me too!

P.S. I'm not sure if Blogger includes draft posts in this number but hey - who's counting, right??