Visions

We were dog/house-sitting for my in-laws. I love their dogs, but I'm so so grateful that we don't have dogs at this juncture in our lives. Getting a toddler ready to go to daycare, while fighting with two dogs (GET INSIDE ALREADY!) is just not working for me.

The other day, I started dinner in the crock pot, I fed the dogs and let them out, I fed and dressed Nathan, and packed all of our stuff for the day. All of the sudden I smelled smoke. It was the brand new crock pot! WHAAAA? After consulting the owner's manual, I learned that this is common, but still freaked out a little bit. I decided that everything would be just fine. I fought the dogs for another 10 minutes and finally got them inside (GAHHHHH!), and then I picked up Nathan and left.

The rest of the day, I was convinced that I would come home to see the house burned down. Imagine what that would do to my relationship with my in-laws! Every hour, I checked the local news websites to make sure there was no house fire in the 'burbs.

Naturally, I got home that evening and everything was fine: The brisket was perfectly cooked and the dogs didn't have accidents and hey! no fire! Thank God. I almost feel guilty for leaving the crock pot on, but we wanted dinner that night.

Do other people have these terrible "fantasies?" Or, am I a freak?

Thoughts On A Winter Morn

So... I don't wear makeup. There's no reason except that I never got into the habit. Most of my friends wear that professional looking, subtle makeup and I think they're all gorgeous. But me? Well lately, it's a good day when I remember to brush my hair.

I've been thinking about this lately because, honestly, I've kind of let myself go downhill over the past few months. I lost all but 7 pounds of my baby weight (seriously, nothing to be proud of there), but my body doesn't look anything like it did before I was pregnant: I've got pockets of jiggly everywhere! The clothes I wear to work are pretty unflattering: plain black or striped pants, t-shirt or sweater, and I wear comfy flat shoes. The unbrushed hair and lack of makeup complete this very sad picture.

The Targo? He looks great! He's not as thin as he was when he was running 20 miles per week, but that's good. He was too thin then. He buys nice clothes, he pays an absurd amount for his haircuts, and he has really nice white teeth. (Hmm... this sounds like a sales pitch!)

So, I'm thinking about baby steps. The Targo's parents will be watching Nathan Monday-Wednesday. This might enable me to get back to the gym on those three days. The Targo and I have been working on meal plans, so that we watch what we eat a little more. I'm trying to shower at night (which I hate), so that I'll not only have more time to get ready in the morning, but also that I'll remember to brush my hair. But the makeup. I just don't know. It just seems like another thing that I'll have to do in the morning. And is it worth it?

Do you wear makeup? Have you always worn it, or is it something you acquired recently, in adulthood, when you got that job, when you hit 30?

TMI - But It's for a Good Cause

I used to be a music junkie. I blame my mom. She was young, hip, and had an awesome vinyl collection. She loved everything from Gospel, to Blues, to Rock, to ... I don't know, a pretty broad spectrum, okay? Naturally, as soon as I got my first CD player, I had to join a CD club. I remember getting Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits and some Bon Jovi CD. Yeah, I'm old ... but not Simon and Garfunkel old.

I used to buy CDs regularly. I was lucky enough to find a used CD place close to my digs when I first moved to Chicago. Also, I had a good friend who was a DJ in his other life. He burned lots of tunes for me.

Then came The Targo. My husband, I adore him, is very very frugal. He thinks buying CDs is a total waste of money. I've made several lists of tunes for him to download for me, then our iPod got virused or something. So, I'm sans mp3/digital music. *woe*

Now that I'm back at work, I'm spending more time than I imagined a lot of time pumping. I need something to occupy myself and thought about getting the iPod up and running again. The problem is that I haven't listened to the radio (besides talk radio, sports, news) in a long time. I feel that I am all sorts of un-hip.

Helps me! Pleeeeeeeeeease! Give me some recommendations: What's hip where you live? Any local sounds? What's playing on your iPod? I really listen to just about everything. (Okay, I'm not so into songs where the swear words outnumber the drumbeats ... but other than that, about anything.)

Cookie of Doom

I've always been a touch on the clumsy side: I've broken several bones, bit through my tongue, and knocked myself out at least three times. But I think last night might be among my crowning glories of clumsiness.



The Targo bought me these super-wonderfully-sinful Pepperidge Farm cookies: Chocolate chunk with caramel.


These cookies are even better if they're just a slight bit warm, you know, and gooey. Well, I was nuking one last night while I poured a glass of milk. We inherited our microwave from The Targo's deceased grandma ... and it's totally Polish. I'm not just making fun, I really think it is. The stupid thing has a dial instead of a digital control, and the dial will not work unless it's set for at least 2 minutes.



So, I was pouring my milk, counting my seconds, and got distracted. Twenty seconds or so went by. I took the cookie out of the microwave and it was a limp, melted mess. A caramel chunk jumped out of the cookie and landed on my thumb. Of course the first thing I did was stick my thumb in my mouth. And then, I threw the cookie in my glass of milk, where it sizzled for a good 3-5 seconds.


Today, the roof of my mouth is completely burned and sore and my thumb, well, there's a huge blister from the evil caramel chunk. Again with the smooth.

Tagged again!

Mrs. Hot tagged me ... a while back ... but I'm slow and also not interesting. So, it's taken me some time to respond.


The Rules
1. Link to your tagger and post the rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random and some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of post and list their names.
4. Let them know they were tagged by a comment on their blog.

Okay, here we go.

• The Targo and I are both natural blondes with blue eyes. Both sets of our parents have dark hair. My mom and dad have green and hazel eyes, respectively. His parents both have brown eyes. He's totally afraid that if we have a dark-haired child, people will doubt its paternity. I'm more worried about looking like a family of clones. (Does that count as weird?)

• I can't remember if I've mentioned this, but I can hear a song once or twice (depending on how fast it is) and know nearly all of the words. This would be reason number one that I cannot listen to rap or metal: The words are so terrible.

• I've never been in a physical fight, not really. When I was 5 and my next-door neighbor was 6, she said something really mean to me, so I slapped her in the face and gave her a bloody nose. My mom made me apologize, but I didn't mean it. (Okay I was sorry, but not entirely.) In high school, I punched (in the arm) one of my best friends when he told me I had big thighs. He reported the slug to my mom and tried to tell her he said "big eyes." Lying jerk. Other than that, I've always been the victim in physical altercations. I find these stories so weird now because I honestly cannot imagine getting into a physical fight. I'm such a wimp.

• Besides my Bozophobia, I think my biggest freakism quirk is my menu anxiety. If a selection is too large, I get annoyed. Because I. LOVES. FOOD. And no matter what I order, I always want what someone else has. It's ridiculous and terrible and stupid. And I hate it. It's not so bad when I eat out with The Targo because he only orders six different things. So, I'm all, "Meh...But what's that guy six booths away eating? That looks SO GOOD!"

• I didn't think it was possible to love a job as much as I love mine. I even want to go to work when I'm sick. How messed up is that? I loved my previous job a lot too. The hardest thing about it was trying to describe to people what I did. Have you noticed if there's no television show about your job, people don't really get what you do? This is why I think there needs to be a show about grad school, because most people are like "but you don't have a job? What do you mean you only have four classes? Are you a career student?" They don't realize that for the social sciences, you have about 20 hours of reading and 20 hours of writing per week, in addition to class time. But I get it: That TV show would be almost as boring as my life. Almost. There'd be good looking people in it, so there you go.

• I've never worked in an office where there were more men than women. I don't mean the overall company, but in my division/unit. My last three jobs had a total of seven men and approximately 20 women. And, I hate to even say this, but it's true: I can't imagine more hostile working environments. I don't think it's the gender distribution, but the women themselves. I'm talking shouting, profanity-laced arguments, alliances, and back-biting like I've never seen. I've always minded my own business and have often closed doors. Twice it's been so bad that I've actually had to complain to my boss (which makes me feel catty). Has anyone else had that type of experience? Like I said, I've never worked in a male-dominated unit, but I know those experiences have been bad. EDIT: To be clear, I'm not making any negative comments about "women in the workplace" or "women in power." I've never had a problem with any of my female bosses. Many of my coworkers have simply been the type of people who 1) can't compromise, and 2) can't accept that all people don't think, work, and react the same way. Thus, UBER CONFLICT! AHHHHH!

• I am a gigantor FREAK SHOW. I have already picked out and am thinking of ordering a Halloween costume for my child - who hasn't been born. But, mygah, this is so flipping cute. (From amazon.com)

I'm a pile of mush over here! It would be perfect if it had Mystic's one black foot. Bwahaha.

Anyhoo...You all know I'm a bad tagger, so please feel tagged. I love learning random Cheez Whiz facts about you!

Livin' for the Weekend

For those of you in the general area of Chicago (I don't know, within 100 miles or so), this weekend is supposed to be a blast! Looptopia starts tonight. The Targo says we're staying up all night to listen to music, watch dancers, and have a great time. Why do I think I will be tired by 10:30? And really - I'm not much of a dancer, but a dance party does sound fun. This also sounds fun: Second Story. Maybe I'll suggest this for tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow: The Targo and I are a) dog-sitting for my in-laws (you remember Brutus, right?) and b) we're seeing Spider-Man 3 on IMAX. Rock!

Have a great weekend, kids!

7 More Things about Meeeeee

I got this from the Loverly Sarah!

For some reason (cause she's a doll) she wanted to know 7 Things About Me:

1. I am morbidly afraid of clowns. It has been this way since I was a child. Before I saw Poltergeist. Really. And long before I saw the movie IT. See... that movie didn't scare me so much because Pennywise was openly evil. And, I had already read the book.
2. My favorite thing about my current job is that the title sounds so cool. Also, there's a TV show that's similar to what I do. My old job title was "Project Manager/Analyst." I still don't know what that means. And, there was no TV show even close to demonstrating my job. (Cryptic enough?)
3. The Targo is afraid to have girl child(ren). He's convinced that he won't know what to do and that they'll inherit my lack of fashion/make-up/hair sense. I think I'm just fine, but there are days that I forget to brush my hair. And, I think sneakers are appropriate with almost every outfit. Okay, maybe I've got nothing to offer and I should be afraid too. Boys? Well, the Targo and I are both sports nuts. We have the same 12 year old boy tastes in movies. And we both laugh out loud at South Park. Maybe boys do seem a little easier.
4. My parents married a month after they met. The Targo and I married 6 years after we started dating (7 1/2 years after we met). I always thought it should be somewhere in the middle. I'm happy that it finally worked out. We'll see how the next 60 years go. Although, I am kind of concerned about those milestone birthdays. Turning 40, 50, 60... before the Targo does not sound fun.
5. I have never been camping. In my life. Ever. The closest I've been is band camp. (I see you laughing.) We stayed at a camp ground and had bunks and cold showers. We had to get up at 5:30 in the morning, and were still outside marching at 10:00 at night. I was eaten alive by the mosquitoes and there was no canoeing. I'm beginning to think it wasn't such a good deal. The Targo and I keep talking about camping someday. Maybe in Yosemite or Yellowstone. I'm afraid I'm not really up to "roughing it," but in theory, it sounds so awesome.
6. I mentioned in my 100 Things post, that I don't speak any languages other than American English. I really would like to learn someday. I had planned to study either Polish or Russian when I moved up here, but never got around to it. The Targo took 5+ years of Espanol and yet, when we were in a cab in Cozumel (great cruise destination) and the cab driver spoke no English, the Targo just let us almost get lost. I was all "Doesn't el barco mean boat?" It was interesting. I learned that I didn't want to be a disgusting American again. My restaurant Spanglish totally came in handy when we were in Mexico for our wedding.
7. I thought the best part of having a destination wedding would be the vacation, non-stressed aspect of it. But really, it was having our parents on vacation with us. I know how lame that sounds. I really hope to take our families on vacation again. It was so fun. Our parents acted like newlyweds. And my parents, who had never been out of the country, did things I'm sure they'd never imagined doing: snorkeling, swimming in subterranean rivers... it rocked.

I don't know who to tag... but feel free to post this stuff... I love random bits of info about you all.

Me...me... and me...

This is from cute Liz. Can you tell I'm bored today?

1. How old will you be in 10 months? Oh holy lord... 32 almost 33... Jeez.
2. Do you think you'll be married by then? N/A! Thank God that cute guy showed up!
3. What do you look forward to most in the next 3 months? I'm hopefully traveling to Virginia to see my BFF and meet her baby for the first time. And then to STL to see all of my other BFFs and their children I haven't met. Did I mention how everyone is having babies? It's insane. It makes me wonder if there's something in the water. I drink Brita... so I dunno.
4. Who was the last person you called? The Targo. *rowr* I said "Oh, Lover Boy." And when he didn't answer, I said "C'mere, Lover Boy." And when he still didn't answer, I said "Baby... oh-ohhhh, baby..." What?
5. Who was the last person to call you? My friend Laura
6. Do you prefer to call or text? I would prefer to live in a vacuum lately. I don't know what the #$@ is wrong with me.
7. Do you have any pets? YAY! TWO! TWO PETS! Black and white cats! YAY! Mystic and Magic. Also known as Diva (or Fingers, or Easy-Bake, or Collapso) and New Cat.
8. What were you doing at 12am last night? Watching the end of Baseball Tonight and swearing that the television. Look... I'm sorry that there are other teams besides those on the east coast. I'm sure it's a burden, ESPN, to have to lower your standards and cover Mark Buehrle throwing a no-hitter. But, jeez... it's just part of your job. And also? I want to throw my show at Carl Ravech. As it's a big shoe, it might break his pretty nose. Jerk.
OMG... Where's 9?
10. When is the last time you saw your sister? I don't have one :( I call Amy my sister. And I saw her in February. I saw my brothers ... #1 September 2006, #2 February 2007, and #3 August 2005. <-- How wrong is that? God. I'm a bad sister. He lives in Vegas... that's my only excuse. 11. What happened at 10:00 am? I'm sure I was working. But I have no proof of that.
12. How many states have you lived in? Three: Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee... and I'm back in Illinois.
13. Who was the last person you were mad at? Do I count? That would be me, then.
14. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet? Socks indoors, barefoot outdoors.
15. Are you a social person? Eh... I used to be... Now... meh.
16. What was the last thing you ate? I just had an Oreo-yogurt-smoothie from Potbelly! I'm so full!
17. What is your favorite ice-cream? Hmm... Maybe chocolate fudge brownie yogurt from Ben & Jerry's.
18. What was your last alcoholic drink? I had one Margarita at our wedding reception/party thing.
And 19? I'll make one up: Where's your favorite place to visit? Why thank you for asking. I really like St. Louis. Mostly because I have so many friends there. Before my brother moved, Denver would have been right up there too. Maybe I'll live there some day.
20. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB&J sandwiches? Grape! I LOVE artificial grape. Do you all remember Nesbitt's pop? YEAH!
21. How was your day today? Eh... the shake was good.
22. What are you excited about? Moving, travelling, getting home to see The Targo tonight.
23. What do you drink in the morning? I usually drink water, but I've been succumbing to a Starbucks skim hot chocolate lately. Tsk-tsk.
24. Would you rather sleep with someone else or alone? I don't sleep well alone anymore. There are usually 8 12 legs in my bed. And sadly, mine are probably the shortest. (EDIT: I apparently can't do math. Two cats and two people equals 12 legs.)
25. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed? I sleep on the side by the wall. Targo on the outside. New Cat sleeps next to The Targo. Mystic sleeps by my feet. Too many legs.
26. Do you know how to play poker? I do. But really what's the deal with it being on TV? Even worse, I heard a poker tournament on the radio once. WHAT?
27. Do you like to cuddle? Uh-huh.
28. Have you ever been to Canada? Yep. I was in Toronto for a conference. It's a lot like Chicago except it's cleaner and people are nicer.
29. Do you eat out or at home more often? I love to eat out... but I'd say it's about 50-50.
30. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? Um... no. Not that I can think of.
Egads! No #31. Marianne - What was your favorite cartoon growing up? Well gee, I'd have to say either GI Joe or Jem. Rock.
32. Do you speak any other language? No.
C'mon now. No #33? Marianne - What's your favorite song? Right now, it's a tie between Rehab by Amy Winehouse and Allison Crowe's version of Hallelujah. Historically? I will always be a fan of Crazy, by the DMB.
34. Have you ever been in an ambulance? I don't think so. I see them every day.
35. Did anyone brighten your day? Not today... But I'm not home yet.
36. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seat? It doesn't matter. When the Targo and I travel together, I usually let him pick and I'll take what's left over.
37. Do you know how to drive a stick shift? No. Are you asking what I do know how to do, or is it just me?
38. What is your favorite thing to spend money on? Probably friends and eating out.
39. Do you wear any jewelry 24/7? No. I take my engagement and wedding rings off every night.
40. What is your favorite TV show? There are just so many! Law & Order: SVU, Medium, Supernatural (OMG, that's on tonight!), Ghost Whisperer...
41. Can you roll your tongue? Yup. I've got a good tongue story actually. When I was 8, my youngest brother and I were jumping on a bed. The bed was coming away from the wall and he pulled me off. I stumbled and landed flat on my face... and bit through my tongue. There was a hole the size of a quarter in that puppy. I had 8 stitches and talked with a slight lisp for a year or two. Now, I stick my tongue out when I smile...
42. Who is the funniest person you know? Me! No...really. Um... My friend Sloth is pretty damn funny. But he's really politically incorrect and not good for mixed company.
43. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? No. Just real ones.
44. What is the main ring tone on your phone? Eh... some lame sound provided by my provider. My old phone used to Polka when Targo called. Heh.
45. Do you still have clothes from when you were little? No. What?
46. What is the color of your bedroom walls? Some standard apartment egg-shell color.
47. Do you shut off the water when you brush your teeth? Yes. I wet the toothbrush first. Shut off the water. Brush. Rinse. Well, if Mystic's in the sink I leave the water on.
48. Do you sleep with your closet doors opened or closed? They're open because they're off the track. That reminds me, I need to call maintenance.
49. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of killing bees? Probably the bear. It would be quicker.
50. Do you flirt a lot? A little too much. I'm trying to quit.

Ok, I will not be held accountable for the off numbering. But that was fun, nonetheless.

Every Chicagoan Wants to be in a John Cusack Movie

Well... maybe one she's seen.

Your Life is Like

Serendipity

What John Cusack Movie Are You?

Is this good? I'm assuming so, but I don't know. It could have been worse... but I was totally hoping for "One Crazy Summer!" Bwahahahaah!

Thanks, Sarah!

EDIT:
And also...

You Are Fozzie Bear

"Wocka! Wocka!" You're the life of the party, and you love making people crack up. If only your routine didn't always bomb! You may find more groans than laughs, but always keep the jokes coming.

The Muppet Personality Test

I'm pretty happy about this. I loved that one of the things my mom - yes, my mom - always says to me appeared in the questions: "You're not as funny as you think you are." Yeah, I know. But some people have delusions of grandeur. I have delusions of comedic genius. And honestly, if I can laugh at my own jokes, and I mean belly-laughs, what else matters? I'm pretty sure this is what's keeping me from the loony bin.

Careful Addendum

I feel like I was dishonest on one of my 101 Things. I'm such a follower, jeez.

Anyway, I mentioned that I "hate" hair products. That's not exactly true. One of the things that makes me the happiest is shopping for shampoo! Now, sadly, I know nothing about what really works. I get most of my hair care advice from Amalah. Traditionally, I've picked my shampoo and conditioner on smell. For some reason, it doesn't matter if the product works, as long as it smells like banana pudding.

Here's the truth: I'm so lazy that I could totally put my hair up in a ponytail every day. Despite the fact that I have absurd, and unjustified, hair vanity.

On a completely unrelated note, did anyone watch America's Next Top Model last night? Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie made an appearance. Now, I feel bad about NR's anorexia and other issues, but seriously, she's a miserable person. Pretty despicable.

101 (Useless) Things

This morning, I posted my 100th entry! Isn't it crazy? I'm the person who has been working on her dissertation for YEARS and yet, I can write 100 posts about nothing - well, sometimes about my cats. I'm not really sure that's better. Hmm.

To be honest, I definitely don't think I'm interesting enough for 100 things, but it's one of my favorite things to read on other blogs. Especially when people are funny. Love that.

And since this is my 101st post, I'm going to list 101 Things:

1. My name is Marianne. I cannot tell you how often people spell it wrong. Or worse, don't know how to pronounce it.
2. Even worse? My last name is very short and is a word that appears in the English language as a noun, verb, and onomatopoeia; yet people still don't understand it when I say it
3. The Targo's has a long Polish last name. But it's phonetic.
   
4. Um, I guess that's my last name now too. Neither the Social Security Office nor the DMV is aware of this fact.
5. By the way, I do have a middle name.
6. I'm the youngest of four kids. The only girl. And the only one between my parents.
7. But I'm not spoiled. I'm well-loved.
8. Everyone in my family has a million nicknames. This freaks The Targo out because sometimes he doesn't know who I'm talking about.
9. I had several nicknames as a kid and my dad still calls me "Mouse."
   
10. I became an aunt the first time when I was six years old. My mom became a grandma at 29. That's not as white trash as it sounds, because she's my oldest brother's step-mom.
11. I have always been a crazy cat lady.
    
12. My first cat (she was actually my youngest brother's cat) died my sophomore year of high school. She was 20. And gross.
13. I went to grad school and got my first ever dog. He was a black lab named Jake and I loved him more than my long-time boyfriend.
    
14. When I moved to Chicago, Jake moved in with my parents and their pool. He was most happy.
15. He died in October 2005 and I cried for two days.
16. I only have one friend from high school that I still talk to. And sadly, we don't talk that much.
    
17. My closest friends are the girls I met in college.
18. And Sloth. I was the best man in his wedding.
19. And Amy. She's my soul-mate. *Shhhhhhhh... Don't tell the Targo! Or Amy's husband.*
20. I always wanted "mall-bangs" in high school, but my hair was too thick and too straight for it to work. And? I hate hair products.
21. I'm a diehard St. Louis Cardinals fan. It's in my genes. I don't know what the Targo (a diehard White Sox fan) and I are going to do if we have children. It's almost like having conflicting religions. At least he's not a Cubs fan.
22. I'm totally a Tomboy. I love playing sports and know a lot of sports trivia.
23. But I'm too chunky to be athletic.
24. I'm not afraid of spiders.
25. Or snakes. In fact, one of my childhood cat used to bring snakes into the house. It would freak my mom out. I'd pick up the snake and throw it into the neighbor's yard.
26. But, I'm totally gagged-out by flies. *ICKALOT*
27. I have really eclectic taste in music. I thank my mom for that. Aside from her, her entire family is musically gifted. She made up for it by having an awesome vinyl collection.
    
28. I used to play the saxophone. I was not very good, but I really enjoyed it. Except taking a tenor sax on the bus. So not fun.
    
29. I was in marching band in high school and college. In high school, I twirled the rifle. In college I was a flag-twirler, which wasn't as cool.
    
30. I broke my own nose once when I caught my rifle with one hand but missed it with the other. I have a scar and I consider it a battle wound.
31. I've broken four fingers (but not my thumb) on my right hand. Again, battle wounds.
32. My dad broke my nose once. He ran over a stick with the lawnmower and it flew thirty feet and smacked me in the nose.
33. My nose doesn't work so well for breathing.
    
34. I've always had weight issues (like most American girls). Two of my brothers used to say "Oh! One more jelly donut and they'll roll you to high school." They're mean. And all three are very thin.
    
35. The thinnest I've ever been was my freshman year of college when all of the dorm food made me sick. I was a size six. And for the first time in my life, I had cheekbones.
36. It didn't last long.
37. I have size 9 1/2 feet. And I'm 5'3". Now how does that make sense?
38. Once when I was shoe shopping, the sales guy at Lady Foot Locker recommended I wear the box. Jerk.
    
39. The Targo has huge feet too. But he's about 6' tall.
40. Speaking of The Targo: I really like him.
41. We met in 1999 and became instant friends. He was really shy, but so cute. I was happy-go-lucky, which made up for my lack of cuteness.
    
42. Then something happened: He broke up with his girlfriend.
43. We started dating the following week.
44. It was a long haul, but I finally got him to marry me.
45. I love The Simpsons.
46. And South Park.
47. And Law & Order. Especially SVU.
48. And HGTV.
    
49. And the Ghost Whisperer.
50. I love TV.
51. And TiVo changed my life. Dear Lord!
52. The Targo makes fun of my TiVo choices, but once had two shows about the giant squid. So there.
    
53. I read voraciously.
54. But I'm embarrassed to elaborate on that.
55. Because my taste in books is even worse than my taste in TV shows.
    
56. I think I'm hooked on blogs.
57. Especially Mommy Blogs.
58. Because I'm obviously baby crazy.
59. Or perhaps just crazy.
    
60. I've recently become a homebody. It drives The Targo crazy because we live in a tiny, mole-hole apartment.
61. We're moving into a larger apartment this summer. Thank God.
62. My parents still live in the same house we moved into when I was 2 1/2 years old.
    
63. Since I graduated from high school, I've lived in three different towns.
64. I've moved a bajillion times. And I still have stuff in boxes.
    
65. I love living in Chicago, but I'm sort of ready to move again.
66. I want to live near the mountains. And get a couple mountain dogs.
67. I have fantasies of buying acres of land and building three houses on them: one for us, one for my in-laws, and one for my parents.
68. I think that would officially make it a compound.
69. When I was in grade school, I wrote short stories about ghosts and stuff like that.
70. When I was in high school, I wrote short romances.
71. I never much succeeded in English. And I'm sure you can see why: I write like I speak. So. NOT. Good.
72. But, I'm a miracle term paper writer. Like, 40 well-written pages overnight.
73. I firmly believe my procrastination is a character flaw. Yet I can't seem to shake it.
74. I've worked in several bars and restaurants.
75. I am now beleaguered with server anxiety and guilt. And never leave a bad tip. Even when the service is atrocious.
76. I'm addicted to The Sims 2. I'm trying to quit.
    
77. I have a potty mouth and hate it. I'm totally trying to quit that too.
78. My biggest pet-peeve is when people say "addicting."
79. Isn't that pathetic?
80. The first physical thing I tend to notice about people is eyebrows. Mine are straight across, so perhaps that's why. My other BFF, Chris, has perfect eyebrows. She could be a Vulcan.
81. I really overuse the words so, like, and yeah.
82. My mom's family motto is "If we didn't make fun of you, you wouldn't think we loved you."
83. They all suck.
84. Okay, not all of them, but many.
85. I had a friend in college who said "Here's a 'jeez whiz' fact for you..." I thought she said "Cheez Whiz fact." Now I say that all the time. In mixed company. People think I'm crazy.
86. The Wiz is playing in Chicagoland this summer.
87. If you're ever in Chicago, it's got an awesome live theater scene. You really can't go wrong.
    
88. I love musical theater.
89. I think Jesus Christ, Superstar is unparalleled in its awfulness.
    
90. But I've seen and loved Les Miserables, RENT, The Lion King, Miss Saigon and The Producers.
91. I made the mistake of taking The Targo to see Miss Saigon. He hated it because it was "so unrealistic."
92. He also rooted for Benny in RENT.
93. He's got a good heart though.
94. I liked college, but not enough to do it again. The only thing I'd do over is go to a more demanding (undergrad) school and work harder. Oh, and pick a different major. Okay, I'd totally do it all over.
    
95. I'm totally a "grass is greener" person.
96. That bothers me more than the word "addicting."
97. Why does blogger think "addicting" is a word, but doesn't recognize "blog?"
98. I reference wikipedia a lot. But firmly believe it's not reliable.
99. It's just easier than looking elsewhere.
100. I'm apparently lazy too.
101. This was really a lot harder than I thought it would be.