Take a Number

Unlike most of the Facebook fads, I have really enjoyed the current "number" trend in which people are required to list interesting things about themselves.  I've been reluctant to play on Facebook, but I'm willing to play here.

The trick is trying to come up with something I haven't already referenced in this blog.  It will be especially hard to avoid the 7 things I revealed in 2008!  If you read here, you probably know me pretty well!  But I will try.

1.  I just got released from teaching Gospel Doctrine in my ward.  And I got called to be the Young Women's Personal Progress leader.  I haven't blogged about it yet, because it is new and I'm nervous, and I'm not ready to dissect it yet.  :)

2. My earliest memory is when I was about 4 years old.  My family had recently moved to Utah from Ohio when my Uncle John died suddenly.  We flew to Ohio for the funeral (my first plane ride), and we brought along a bag full of my favorite books.  After the return flight home, I discovered we had left my books on the plane.  The disappointment of losing my books is the first memory I have.

3. I can count my entire lifetime of close female friends on two hands.  I can think of nine girls/women who would make that list, and I am grateful for the support they each have given me through various times in my life.

4. If I count my sisters, that number is 11.  My sister Lisa was my confidant regarding boys from a very early age.  I went boy crazy in 3rd grade, at which point Lisa and I would go outside each Friday night and shoot hoops while I told her about my problems.  She gave pretty sound advice - for a Kindergartener.  When I was in high school and in love for the first time, she was still the one I turned to.  But then it was over ice cream cones from Arctic Circle or pretzels at South Towne mall.  (I've posted enough love about Michelle lately, but if I'm being honest, she'd kind of my best friend.)

5. I think I'm starting to not hate pink.  Don't tell my anti-pink family.

6. My favorite shape is a square.  Straight lines.  Symmetry.  Happiness.

7. Once upon a time, I wanted to be a journalist.  I even went to Iowa on a Greyhound all by myself to get to a week-long summer journalism camp.  Actually, that would make a good full-length blog post.  (note to self)

8. When Kirk and I first got married, one of our favorite shows to watch together was Strange Days at Blake Holsey High.  What?  You've never heard of it?  That's because it was on Discovery Kids on Saturday mornings.  :)

9. I am from Ohio.  My dad is originally from West Virginia, but grew up in Ohio.  He met my mom (who is from Idaho) at Ricks College (in choir... just how I always thought I'd meet my husband).  They got married and moved to Ohio where my dad finished college (he went to Kent State where the shootings happened, but finished up at Akron University).  When I was almost 4, we moved to Utah.  Also related to this, I proudly consider myself to be trailer trash, because my parents owned and lived in a trailer when I was little.  I am proud of the fact that they did what they needed to do to put my dad's education first.

10. Apparently my love language is "quality time."  (I got a little caught up in internet quizzes this week.)  Don't buy me presents or say nice things to me.  Just put away your phone and let me be the center of attention.  That's all I need!

11. I love it when the clock shows repeated numbers.  My favorite times of day are 2:22, 4:44, and 11:11.  I don't know why those beat out 1:11, 3:33, 5:55, but my guess is that I must also have a thing for even numbers.  Even though 11 is odd, 11:11 features an even number of digits and is beautifully symmetrical.

12. I can only eat half a banana before the texture makes me gag.

13. I acquired an enhanced sense of smell during my pregnancies, and it never went away.  I am constantly whining about gross smells that no one else seems to notice.  I also seem to have an increasing gag reflex, and I find that I frequently have to look away from t.v. scenes so I don't gag.  Most recent was the dead fish on New Girl.  Ugh... just thinking about it makes me want to gag.

14. I hate Facebook on days when everyone cares about the same thing.  Elections, general conference, holidays, major sporting events, and abnormal weather make me want to take cover for a few days until it blows over.

15. I'm pretty sure I have an ulcer.  I get to find out on December 20th.  I'm pretty sure I'm more excited for that appointment than I am for Christmas.

16. I think it is amazing that of all the last names I could have married into, I became a musical instrument.  It makes me happy every time I think about it.  However, I get annoyed with spelling it F-as-in-Frank, I, F-as-in-Frank, E.  It's FIFE, people.  Not Fise.  Not Sise.  (And to my students, I am not actually Mrs. Five, btw.)  Also, it is not pronounced Fee-fee, or Fee-fay.  Oh, and though it is Andrea Fife out loud, it is always Andrea K. Fife in print.  I just love how it looks.

17. I have just entered what may be an extended period of using my self-appointed nickname: Anna.  Little kids can't say Andrea.  Go ahead - say it out loud and pay attention to the tricky middle where your lips have to make three or four different shapes consecutively to get the three-consonants-in-a-row to blend correctly.  Yeah, kids can't do that.  I'm teaching Princess Ty to call me Anna, and John and Ryder won't be far behind.  (Aside: For one year when Jack was learning to talk, my whole family called me Annie.  As soon as he could say Andrea, I killed the nickname.)  (Second Aside: In my senior yearbook, several friends addressed me as "Caz" or "Cazzie," one of the only legit nicknames I've ever had.  I liked it, but it was short lived.)  (Third Aside: Around the same period of time, a different group of friends called me Anj.  This is my favorite nickname of all time, and is still used by a select handful of people, all of whom now reside in Georgia.)  (Fourth Aside: In elementary, my nickname was Squeaker.  If you've ever heard me get tickled, you know why.)

18. It makes my day when I find out people read my blog.  I really do write it just because I like to write, but it makes me feel really happy to find out somebody else likes my style, or likes my stories, or likes my kids, or... well, likes me.

19. I wish I could go back to high school.  I think I could do it so much better now than I did it then.  I would love to be back in the classrooms, back in choir, back at the lunch table with my group of friends.  I could totally go for high school during the day, and wife and mother at night.

20. I talk all the time.  "Duh, I knew that..." you're thinking.  Well, you knew I talk a LOT out loud.  But imagine the few moments when I'm not making noise verbally.  My own voice is talking out loud in my head all the time.  Driving, showering, eating.  You name it.  There is a constant stream of dialogue in my head at all times.  Even right now.  I'm narrating this blog post as I write.  Think J.T. on Scrubs.  That's me.

Well, that's a lot more than I thought I would come up with, so I'm going to pretend my number was 20 and get back to work!