All at once now - The Required 100

In revamping my sidebar, I combined, edited and revised my previous lists into one. Cuts down a lot on space.

1. I am a Christian. God is good -- all the time

2. When I was a kid alone in my room, I would wear tights on my head so that I could pretend I had really long hair and I would swish it side to side (think Marsha Brady)

3. I used to watch The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island and The Partridge Family after school. I can still sing songs from all of them. Not that you would want me too.

4. My daughter, Andi, is my best friend. Growing up, she reminded me of Anne Shirley (of Green Gables). I loved that movie and watching it with her. Now I enjoy watching it with Carly.

5. She once wrote me 101 reasons why she loved me and it is one of my most prized treasures.  I'm sure it's somewhere safe. But just in case I lost it, I wrote them out here.

6. I do not like cheese. Blech. I can stand it a bit if it's melted on pizza or just a tiny bit in lasagna. Nothing uncooked.

7. I really prefer Charmin toilet paper over all other brands and have no idea why anyone bothers to use 1 ply paper when you just have to use twice as much.

8. Toilet paper on the roll goes over the top to pull. The other way is just wrong.

9. Toilet paper does not go in trees other than your own. That's called vandalism.

10. I think vanilla cokes and root beer floats are gross. However, cherry cokes from Sonic are the best.

11. I would like to visit "Little House" days - but wouldn't want to live there.

12. I used to want to publish a book some day. I'm over that now. I have 3 chapters written. I think it is hilarious. It is based on Andi and her friends and their escapades growing up in our little town. The main character is named Paige Turner. That alone cracks me up, but I am easily amused.

13. I am a Duke Blue Devils basketball fan to the core - always have been - always will be. College basketball is my favorite sport to watch on TV.

14. I do not like wearing anything "dressier" than jeans.

15. My kids want me to sing to them all the time and it will make me sad when the day comes that they no longer want that. It will probably make them sad then, because most likely, I'll keep on singing.

16. My kids bring me more joy than one person should be entitled to.

17. I did an ariel cartwheel ONCE. Scared me half to death, but I had accomplished my goal of wanting to do one. I never did another. I did the Chinese splits ONCE, too. That was not a goal of mine - it was a total accident and I felt no sense of accomplishment whatsoever. Only pain.

18. Before I was a Mamaw, people already thought I was a grandma - but they were talking about MY kids.

19. I am a wonderful, hug-giving, apron wearing, book reading, story telling, cookie making Mamaw....just like I always thought I would be.

20. My favorite all time movie is Remember the Titans. It is a great movie.

21. We always had wonderful Easter egg hunts at my grandmother's when I was a kid. All of the cousins (and there were many) would be there and there were eggs out the wazoo. There was always a golden egg that was a Leggs pantyhose egg. It had money in it and my brother seemed to find it every year.

22. I think my brother had a spy watching the eggs being hidden.

23. I never imagined myself as the mother of six. Never. 4 kids, yes, 2 sets of twins - boys and girls. All of their names started with J. Jacob was not one of the boy's names. Or one of the girls either for that matter.

24. My favorite ice cream is Chunky Dory Fudge from G. D. Ritzy's.

25. Speaking of all things dory, I think Mike Rowe is just hunky dory and I could listen to him read the Sears Catalog. I'm sure he would make it hilarious.

26. I think I'm in love with the name dory and might rename one of my teddy bears, Dory. Dory is fun to say. You should try it at home. Dory, Dory, Dory. I like it.

27. If I had my choice of stores to spend a day in, it would be a kitchen gadget store -- or a hardware store. I can dream the hours away in either of them....as long as I don't have a bunch of kids interrupting my dreams.

28. I love a good mail day - no bills, no ads -- just cards and letters. Maybe a package or two. Good stuff. You just can't have too many good mail days.

29. While my friends were slaving away working at ice cream joints during high school, I made as much money in 2 hours of giving baton lessons as they did in working 20 hours. Made all that practice seem worthwhile

30. My parents got a letter after my sophomore year from the superintendent stating that he hoped it would be more "feasible" for me to attend school more often the next year. Seems I missed about 2 days a week - but still made the honor roll. It was the first time I ever heard the word feasible. It's feasible to assume that they studied it on a day I was absent.

31. I truly enjoy homeschooling my kids. The things I would miss every day if they were in school all day long are too numerous to list.

32. I think the perfect late night Sunday snack is brown sugar cinnamon toast. After buttering the bread to the edges, spread finely crumbled brown sugar over it and sprinkle with cinnamon. Broil till bubbly and brown - then enjoy it with a tall glass of ice cold milk. I use the promise of this snack to get Andi to spend Sunday nights here quite often.

33. My dad showed up at my high school when I was 16 and told me we were going to Evansville. Since I had a inclination to miss school anyway, I was OK with this idea. He drove me to a motorcycle store, where he bought me a brand new motorcycle to drive back and forth to school. I had never asked for a motorcycle and had no idea how to drive a motorcycle - but I took it anyway.

34. I would show up at Andi's school to try and take her out of school for a day of shopping and she would go, but not always willingly. She's so dang responsible.

35. You have to add oil to motorcycles and if you don't, the engines burn up...."said the voice of experience."

36. Despite my best intention to start wearing make-up, I couldn't pull it off and I still don't. But I have a lot of new make-up in my closet. It's right next to all my old make-up.

37. I don't like tattoos of any kind, or any color, on anybody, at any time. I've never seen a tattoo and thought it was pretty or wished I had it. Never. I can't imagine that changing. Sometimes, I can say, "that would make a pretty necklace." Sometimes, I even mean it. Not often. Truthfully, hardly ever.  THIS ONE CHANGED - but it took an act of God to do it.  You can read about it here.

38. My ears don't flap at the bottom. Or to put it a different way, my ears are attached to the side of my head at the lobes. My lobes don't flap and I'm OK with that.

39. I have 2 distinct creases in my arm where it bends at the elbow. If you hold your arms out - palms up and look at the inside of your arm in the elbow area, most people have one line. I have 2 and I'm OK with that quirk too.

40. I don't understand why some people feel the need to modify their bodies and have horns inserted in their head or lumps put into their eyebrows. I'm not really OK with that.

41. I almost joined the army when I was 19, excelled at the tests, passed the physical and was well on my way to finalizing the next 4 years of my life - but then I started dating the army recruiter, so that idea went by the wayside. I've never regretted not joining. Or breaking up with him.

42. I loved Barry Manilow's music when I was a teenage. I still listen to him on occasion.

43. I also loved Fleetwood Mac, REO Speedwagon, Bob Dylan, Journey, Boston, Cheap Trick and The Carpenters. That's right -- I wrote The Carpenters.

44. Having watched several people get tattoos, I know what mine would look like IF I ever decided to get one. It would look like a freckle. Once I felt that first needle, I'm sure I would sober up quickly and come to my senses. See number 37 above. 

45. I have six children by five different fathers. Not many women can say that out loud and not cause a few eyebrows to raise.

46. I never liked my name growing up because it always sounded like a boy's name. I vowed to give my daughter a "girl" name. So I did - Andrea. Then we called her Andi. Her middle name is Jo. 2 boy names - so much for childhood vows.

47. I also vowed before I had kids (when I was the perfect mother to be someday) that MY children would never wear socks that weren't white on the bottom. NOW in my real world, as soon as they come out of the package, I want to take a broad tip, black, permanent marker to the bottom of them just to make them look a week old. If they get 2 socks on that remotely look alike, I'm thrilled. It's only when they come out with a tube sock on one foot and a no-show sock on the other that I say anything at all. And even then, it's most likely something like, "Push that sock down so they match."

48. I've never seen nor read Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Nor do I want to. I'm such a rebel sometimes.

49. I ONCE let a 14 year old friend drive my car on an old back country road out in the middle of nowhere - only to have another girl in the car inform me that my parents were in the car behind us on this old back country deserted road in the middle of the cornfields of Kentucky. She wasn't kidding. I turned around and my dad was giving me that state police officer "pull it over" wave of the finger over the steering wheel. When he walked up to the car in his very anger controlled voice, he calmly said, "You just lost your car, little girl." Then he made the whole carload of us go to each of our parents' homes and confess our actions. Ouch. Angela, the 14 year old didn't drive for a long time after that day. Come to think of it .........neither did I.

50. I collect pop up books by Robert Sabuda. Every one that I own have been gifts from Andi and Jacob. His books are amazing and if they get me something besides one of his books, they think I don't like it as much and then they look at each other and say, "We should have gotten her a pop-up book."It's not that I don't like gifts - but I don't really like getting them for the most part.

51. I can't think of a single thing I need and very few things that I even want. I still have several packages of unopened socks from 2 Christmases ago, so I'm even set for socks for awhile. I love socks. White socks.

52. I feel bad if I'm not enthusiastic enough about a gift that someone gives me. Especially if I know they should have used that money for something else. I like gifts I can keep forever - like handwritten notes, cards, letters and the occasional hand made pop up, 3D, way cool book about a platypus named Perri. If you wish to visit me, I will read the the whole story to you.

53. I also like gifts that I can consume immediately - cookies, candy and yummy stuff such as that.

54. I don't like being on ladders.

55. When I was a teenager I worked for a company who built Morton building and I was up on roofs all day. I'm sure I got there by ladder. I don't remember an escalator on the job site.

56. I don't usually put things off. This is highly unusual because normally things like that drive me batty until they are done.

57. When I was a kid, I couldn't pronounce unusual correctly. I always said UnNusual.

58. I never spell the words tongue, restaurant or definitely correctly the first time. I think it is a mental block. I don't know why. I spelled them all wrong in that sentence but spell checker caught it.

59. I love spell checker.

60. If they ever quit making Mt. Dew, I'm in big trouble. So are my kids, cause a day without Mt. Dew makes for one grouchy momma.

61. I believe that people who you have never met in "real" life, but only over the internet can be just as real to you as someone you've known your whole life.

62. I brush my teeth -- frequently. Probably at least 10 times a day. Some people might even think I am compulsive about it. A few people might even mention it out loud. Really brave people call me obsessed...to my face. I just can't stand for my teeth to feel anything but slicky. I don't care where I am at - if I eat, I brush. My friends don't care. They're used to it.

63. I refuse to make my bed. And I don't make my children make theirs either.

64. I wear flip flops summer and winter - with socks. Yes, I know it looks stupid and dorky, but somewhere along the way the comfort factor won out and I just really don't care. The flip flops aren't comfortable without socks. They stick to my feet and make a sucking sound when I walk. Don't care to have my feet make sucking sounds. That's gross. Like un-slicky teeth. Just don't like either of those things even a little bit.

65. A few years ago I found a pair of flip flops that I liked so I went to the store and bought every pair they had in my size. I'm not "into" shoes. Besides my flip flops and my 3 identical pair of white tennis shoes (also bought for comfort and as they age they go down the line to garage shoes and then grass mowing shoes), I have 2 other pair of shoes - both brown leather. I'm a pretty boring shoe person.

66. However, I love purses, billfolds and diaper bags. It's worth noting that one of the first things people said to me when they found out I was going to be a grandma was that I would be able to buy diaper bags again. I just love them. More than a person should. I don't know why. I think it has to do with all the compartments for putting things. I love organized things. It just makes life better. Like slicky teeth and non-sticky feet. Some things are just good.

67. I sleep with 2 teddy bears, a regular pillow and a long body pillow. I sleep on my side, with one arm straight up over my head, holding the arm of one bear, clutching the other bear on my body pillow with my foot hanging off the end of my bed. I flip back and forth about 4 times during the night and have to rearrange the entire setting. The youth girls at church camp always make fun of me because I bring my all of my stuff with me to camp. I can handle their teasing. I can't handle trying to sleep without my stuff.

68. My nickname from junior high on in school was Dinker. Andi called me one evening to tell me that it's too bad I didn't have a name that somebody wanted to name their child after, but in honor of me, they had named Sophie's new favorite stuffed animal, Dinker. I'm honored to have the pink and white, soft floppy, baby bear named after me.They also named a cat after me once - sorta. My grandmother used to call me Perri D. and then she would shorten it to P.D. but it sounded like she was saying Petey. So they named the cat Petey. Petey ran away but I don't think it had anything to do with his name. Petey is a great name.

69. About 90% of movies on the Lifetime channel annoy me to no end, however, I like about 90% of movies on the Hallmark channel. Lifetime movies seem to require an abuser, an alcoholic, an anorexic or a murderer. The Hallmark Channel requires Kleenex.

70. All of the little kids want to fly on a plane. I HATE flying on planes - big or small, single engine or 20. It doesn't matter, I hate them all. I love my kids enough to want to let them fly on a plane....but I'm secretly hoping that by the time I've saved enough for the event, they will have changed their minds and want to take a train ride somewhere instead.

71. I like to shop online better than in stores. Less crowds, less traffic and much easier overall. No pesky salespeople. No kids licking the clothes racks. Thankfully they've grown out of that phase.

72. My dad cut this comic out to give to me because it reminded him of us. I love my dad more every day. I can't read the comic without crying.

73. Just about every day I find a job that I am so glad I don't have to do for a living.

74. The more TV I see, the less TV I watch -- if that makes sense to you. 90% of our TV viewing consists of Discovery, The Food Network, Animal Planet and the History channel.

75. I love Life cereal, Captain Crunch and Frosted Flakes. I only put a little milk on at a time so my cereal doesn't get soggy. Sometimes Captain Crunch makes the roof of my mouth sore, but I am willing to risk it.

76. It's a good thing I write so much in my blog, because I think that some day if I have more memory loss than I already have, I will be glad to come back and read it all again.

77. I hate math and I hate teaching math.

78. Marking things off a list is very satisfying to me because it signifies accomplishment. An example would be when I'm cleaning house. I add things to my list that weren't on my list in the first place if I just happened to do them, just for the sheer joy of marking them off. Feel free to try it - it brings a wonderful feeling when you draw a line through something on your to do list.

79. Tootsie Pops make the roof of my mouth sore too, but I love raspberry Tootsie Pops. I've never tasted a real raspberry though.

80. I - totally sober, once rode in a car with a drunk driver. He rounded a two lane country road, hit a one lane country bridge and we ended up in the water. I broke my wrist and it took almost 9 months to heal. I had to drop out of nursing school. Lesson learned. I never rode with another drunk driver again. AND, I always wear clean underwear because you just never know when you're gonna meet up with a bridge.

81. I've only ever bought one thing off of a TV commercial. One day I purchased the Ronco Roaster from QVC. It was a great big ol' bitter disappointment, both in cooking and in ease of cleaning. I returned it for a full refund.

82. I love peanut butter fudge. Not too keen on any other flavor.

83. I loved going to my Maw-maws on Halloween. Seems like the entire town would come to her house for her popcorn balls. We spent days before Halloween making dozens and dozens of them. Even know I can still recall how it felt to stick your buttered hand into that hot bowl of sticky popcorn.

84. When you spent the night with my grandma, she piled so many quilts on you that there was no way in the world you were getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without someone coming to dig you out first.

85. When I was 18, I worked for Murray State University in Murray, KY. I did a variety of things, including mucking out horse stalls and castrating baby pigs. Both handy life skills.

86. On weekends, I picked tobacco to earn extra money. I never took up smoking.

87. During one of my "extended" periods of abscence from high school, I spent several days with some friends at a condo at KY Lake. We spent a LOT of time in the pool and we went through several bottles of Sun In. Not a good combination. I went home with a lovely shade of green hair. Lime.

87. Looking back now, it's a wonder I even graduated - much less graduated early.

88. I prefer to buy my own dinner when eating out with friends - that way I can order what I want without thought to what it cost.

89. I hate to clean out my car and only do it about twice a year. Someone cleaning my car for me - now that is a great gift.

90. I was a flag girl in jr. high and in high school band. 5 years of flag twirling can get you out of a lot of music practicing.

91. I have never enjoyed loud, smoky places so I have only been to one rock concert in my life. It was Jimmy Buffet and the smoke was thick...and of varying types.  'nuf said.

92. I'm quite happy to just kick back and watch home improvement shows.

93. I like to learn to do new things - like tile floors and such. Part of me likes it even better when I get to try it out for the first time on someone else's property.....just in case.

94. I've always wanted to sky dive - which is really strange since I don't like heights and I hate to fly. Maybe I should just jump off a table with an umbrella instead. That would probably suffice.

95. I've always been grateful that my parents paid to have my teeth straightened. Well, maybe not always. I don't know if I was at the time, but once they were done - YEAH!

96. I always prefer to drive, rather than be a passenger. Always.

97. I love my digital camera, cell phone and computer. They are great.

98. Every day of my life, I am thankful I don't have to work at a job everyday and can stay home with my kids. That is a great blessing and I do not take it for granted.

99. Adoption is a great way to have a family. I've never had the first regret about adopting three little kids. The joy they have brought to our family is immeasurable.

100. Jesus loves me --- and He loves you, too.