Tuesday, March 25, 2008

That Isn't Weird

I was tagged by Viooltje, from Lady Greenthumb's Garden for a meme. I'm supposed to tell ten weird or random facts about myself. I had already participated in a meme back in November telling eight random facts about myself, but I thought it might be fun to participate in this one too.

I mentioned the meme at the dinner table tonight just to see if my family could help me come up with some things that are weird about me. My fifteen year old son said that I go nuts when I see a new bird in the yard. My twenty year old daughter said that I'd rather shop at Lowe's, Home Depot and garden centers than regular stores. That is not weird. It is perfectly normal behavior. Apparently they couldn't think of anything more weird to contribute, (my husband wisely kept silent).

I guess I should be thankful that my kids don't think I'm weird. However, it is now all up to me to figure out ten weird random things about myself, I think I'm pretty normal too so this is rather difficult. H'mm......

1. I hate roaches because when I was 19, one crawled into my ear while I was asleep. I woke up and ran to the bathroom to run water in my ear to try and get it out. I was hysterical, slapping my head and screaming, STOP! STOP! The thing was tormenting me by clawing and scratching on my eardrum. Thankfully, when I got to the emergency room they quickly ushered me back and removed the big roach that had attached itself to my eardrum. After I calmed down, I noticed that my pants were unzipped and I had a wet bedhead look. I was so embarrassed! The people I worked with started calling me the "Roach Motel", roaches get in, but they can't get out.

2. I am terrified of heights and absolutely hate flying. I've had to fly anyway to accompany my husband on numerous business trips. I don't get up unless I absolutely have to while flying because it makes me dizzy and nauseated. In October 1995, after an Alaskan Cruise, we flew into Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, we only had a few minutes to make our connecting flight and I HAD to go to the bathroom because I was feeling sick with an upset stomach. I quickly went to the bathroom and we took off running as fast as we could through the airport. We jumped onto a tram that happened to have several of my husband's co-workers and their spouses on it. I felt someone grab something from my pants, I turned to discover that I had been running through DFW with a 2 foot long toilet paper tail flapping behind me. How humiliating! To keep from dying of embarrassment, I thought about all of those weary travelers that must have needed some comic relief, even though the laugh at my expense. Thankfully, everyone was gracious and the incident was never mentioned again, at least not to me.

3. I'm a very serious minded person, but will occasionally act silly and out of character just to surprise or embarrass my kids.

4. Being the serious minded person that I am, I don't laugh at jokes very often. They are usually dumb and corny to me. When we first met, my husband spent our entire first date telling jokes and trying to get me to laugh. They weren't funny, so I didn't laugh. He finally said something that was spontaneous and truly funny and made me laugh. After nearly 26 years of marriage, he still tells jokes and I still don't laugh. God was gracious though, and blessed him with a beloved daughter who will laugh at anything and everything he says. And what a delightful laugh she has, her generous laughter has been beautiful music to our ears from the time she was two months old.

5. I am weird about using chemicals. I don't want perfume to touch my skin and on the rare occasion that I use it, I spray it on my clothing. My black hair is turning gray, but I refuse to put any coloring on it. I don't use harsh chemicals when cleaning my home, and I garden organically.

6. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm weird because just about every day, (sometimes twice a day), in July and August I can be seen outside picking Japanese beetles off my plants by hand and placing them in zip-lock baggies. Remember, I don't use chemicals for pest control.

7. I'm weird about taking medications too. It has to be a pretty bad headache that lasts longer than twenty-four hours before I will even take anything for it. When I'm sick, I'll drink barley green or take a number of other things to boost my immune system, but I hate taking any kind of cold medication.

8. I didn't become a cat person until about three years ago. I didn't like cats at all, because I couldn't trust them after being bitten a couple of times by cats who acted like they wanted to be petted. I love my wonderful kitty now and can't imagine not having her. She has won me over to the cat side.

9. I'd rather stay outside all day, sitting on the ground weeding than being in the house cooking or cleaning.

10. I've been a stay-at-home mom for almost 21 years, devoting my life to my husband, children and home. Now that my two children are pretty much all grown up, I'm trying to decide what I want to do with my life now. That, is so very weird to me.

I'm not sure who has been tagged already, so please join in if you'd like to play along.

24 comments:

Gail said...

Robin,

I asked my husband the same question....he could only come up with my garden quirks, perfectly normal behaviors! I loved reading about your daughter's laugh... Love just radiates from you when you write about your family....I hope you let us know what you decide to do with your life! The wonderful thing about that journey is that you can still garden.

Gail

Stacy said...

Wow, those are very interesting! I cannot believe that a roach crawled in your ear - I would be hysterical as well! Gives me the shivers just thinking about it! My neighbors think I am crazy as well - I try to remove the dandelions from our yard by hand and I walk around sometimes with a plastic bag picking up all the recyclables that people throw out their car window...they all think I am nuts - but to each their own. :) I will definitely participate in the random facts post!

Anonymous said...

Well, just be a stay-at-home pet mom. That's what I became. And you already have a cat! Believe me, you can stay pretty darned busy being a gardener, pet mom and errand runner for everyone. Oh, and I became a Meals On Wheels volunteer too.
Brenda

Viooltje said...

That was just amazing. I enjoyed reading every bit of it and I'm even more glad I tagged you now. Your writing style is so...gentle and heartwarming, I could just read on for the rest of the day. And good job you put la cucaracha nightmare first. I won't even try to imagine how scary that looked, never mind felt. I'd be absolutely freaked out, I'd rather blow my head off than have that bug dig into my ear. Yuck. I have a thing with creepy crawlies myself so I can relate to that. Just reading your blog I could tell what a wonderful person you are, and now reading these interesting little stories from your life, I can only say my choice was right. Recognized pieces of myself in many of them. I used to skip school and college so I could dig and weed about and my neighbors still think I'm a weirdo. Not that I care, I just hope there's something for them out there that makes them just as joyful and delightful.
Violet

Amy said...

Your roach story gives me the shivers!!!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Eww - I had a roach phobia before I read your story. Now I'm completely freaked. And I've never even had one crawl near me. The hand-picking of Japanese beetles isn't weird for organic gardeners, just for people who have no clue what you're doing. I'd be afraid to ask DH to list my weirdness, I'm sure he could go on & on.

garden girl said...

Robin, I can relate to quite a few of your ten facts, especially the fear of heights and the avoidance of chemicals and medications.

I'm sure I'd have freaked out if I'd ever had a roach in my ear. It was bad enough having a couple cicadas in my hair last summer when we had the plague here.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

You sound awfully normal to me Robin. Maybe I am the weird one. Ha... I have heard of a bug getting into someones ear before. It must be a terrible experience. You may not think things are funny but I got a real chuckle out of some of your stories, especially the toilet paper tail. tee hee I think that has happened to everyone I know. You just happened to be with people you knew.

kris said...

The sitting outside weeding all day instead of cleaning or cooking sounds perfectly normal to me. :) I loved seeing your spring blooms - the pink tulip is a gorgeous color. Thanks for helping out us spring bloom deprived bloggers!!

The Diva said...

Robin, the roach thing would have tramatized me. I think reading about it did. :-) The other stuff sounded a lot like me, and I'm not weird.~~Dee

Frances, said...

Robin, maybe instead of weird, they are just interesting facts. Your husband is a lucky man in more ways than a daughter who laughs at everything. We have a daughter like that, she will fall off the chair laughing over the least thing. What a gift!
Frances

Anonymous said...

You sound very normal to me. I dream of being home all day, you are very lucky...I wouldn't give it up.
EEK....the roach!!!

Anonymous said...

Well I would be afraid of cockroaches too if that happened to me. Why couldn't you have won the lottery instead! Sorry, I am one of those who tend to joke about everything.

beckie said...

I agree with the others about the roach!! I think most of us(gardeners) would rather be out than in doing housework. But I do not!! like weeding.How about working with plants...greenhouse, garden store, florist?

Anonymous said...

You are sure a nuturing person. Just listening to you makes me want to do good things in the world. You have a writing style that encourages others to be their best. I was very amused by your weirdo list. I'm slowly becoming organic in areas outside of gardening. I went organic in the gardens one year when I killed off all the good bugs with the bad ones. I've never seen such a sick garden. I learned it's better to have healthy soil. I've also switched to Method cleaning products and they work better. I get it at my local grocery story but Target sells the Method products too.

One last thing--I can really relate to the full time mom profession. My kids are all moved out now and I miss them like crazy. I should have kept having kids so I would never be out of a job.

The Giraffe Head Tree said...

OMG - the roach thing would totally flip me out! Great list, Robin.

m.e. said...

I want to hear the TP story!!! I missed that one somewhere along the line!

Robin's Nesting Place said...

Thank you all so much for taking the time to leave comments. The generosity of your kind words has warmed my heart and touched me deeply. You are the greatest!

I'm not sure what I'll do in the future. My preference would be to stay home, but I hate being alone. I think working in a garden center would be fun. Maybe taking some photography classes or other hobby classes. I'm sure it won't take long to start filling up the hours. It's just being at the crossroads and accepting life's changes that is difficult sometimes.

archivesinfo said...

What fun! But I don't think that you are weird at all. In fact, I think we have a lot in common. Maybe you need a new list? Maybe I'm weird too? For fun I go to garden centers with a camera in hand. I never leave a garden center without a plant in hand. I think it would be rude to enjoy the lovely spaces without buying something, plus there is always something very tempting to buy...oh gee...I've got a lot to say about this topic. Maybe I'll blog about this later today! btw, my sister once had a scorpion crawl into her shorts. She left them on the floor and put them on without realizing he was in there. Is that worse than a cockroach in your ear?

Have a lovely day! I enjoy your blog very much. Thanks for visiting and commenting on mine.

Annie in Austin said...

If being a gentle, environmentally aware, caring person is weird, then we are in trouble!

But the roach story sure fits in the weird catagory, Robin!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Robin's Nesting Place said...

Annie, I'm glad you think I'm normal, but to my extended family I am a bit weird. No one that I know of has gone gray naturally, coloring is the expected thing to do and plenty of comments have been made already about my hair. For most people taking medication is the norm too.I do agree though that using the word "random" is better than using the word "weird".

Anonymous said...

I feel like I know you better now. I bet you have a very dry sense of humor...my husband is very serious but wickedly funny if you listen closely.

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

The only thing that is weird about your post is that it's not weird at all. Well, except the not liking cats bit until 3 years ago, now that is seriously weird or so the Bliss team tells me. ;-)

Poor you to have a roach in your ear, what an horrible experience.

Fun list (except the bit about the roach) Robin, I enjoyed reading it and getting to know you a bit better. Annie expressed it very well so I'll just second her.

Anonymous said...

You are generous with the stories you tell on yourself, Robin. Though you may not like jokes, you certainly have a sense of humor about crazy things that happen in life. I have a roach in a shoe story, but yours tops it.