Beadlust

100
Things About Me ~

1. I am daunted by making lists, especially one with this many entries. But I'm going to give it my best try because I've so very much enjoyed reading these lists on other's blogs.
2. "To do" lists, really help me, especially when I prioritize them.
3. I like writing "ten things" lists, such as "ten things I’m grateful for" or "ten things I love about my husband" or "ten things I forgive myself for doing or not doing."
4. Most of the time, I love my life just the way it is.
5. Touch is a very important sense for me… probably why I adore beads so much.
6. I used to read much more than I do now. As a child, I "read books" before I could read, as you can see below.

7. I’ve been noticing short term memory problems lately, and it frightens me hugely.
8. I’ve struggled with weight issues most of my life.
9. Laughing out loud is one of my top ten favorite things to do.
10. My husband, with his wacky, irreverent sense of humor, makes me laugh… no, let’s say "guffaw"… many times daily. Bless him.
11. Writing is a pleasure for me, something I do fairly easily.
12. I take some pride in being a bit iconoclastic, frequently following the roads less traveled.
13. Intense, strident, loud music in any genera makes me nervous; I turn it off or leave the source.
14. My three favorite types of music are: Baroque classical/chamber music, rhythm and blues, and Hungarian folk music.
15. For eight years, I performed with a Hungarian folk dance group. I was co-leader of the group for a couple of years, did some of the choreographies and sewed many of our costumes. What got me started was falling in LOVE with the music.


16. I took Argentine tango lessons for a while, and loved the dance form passionately. The style calls for the woman to be thin and willowy, wearing flowing low-cut gowns and high-high heels. Totally NOT me. But I loved it anyway. And the music is awesome!
17. My hands are my favorite body part.
18. I used to HATE my stocky legs until my husband took me and my legs out to dinner one night and told me I should appreciate my legs for all they’ve done for me, all the hiking and dancing . Now I put cream on them and rub them with affection after every shower. Did I mention "Bless him" previously?
19. I’m a closet singer.
20. Maybe that’s why I like the idea of American Idol. I like watching the actual competition, but not the auditions because the judges are sometimes brutal when they jeer at and bully some of the unrealistic contestants.
21. I love to watch dancing of any kind… ballet, tap, hip-hop, jazz, folk, ballroom… you name it… any dancing appeals to me!
22. My biological father died in a car accident 5 days before my 5th birthday. My husband was born 6 days after my 5th birthday. The accident and the birth, 11 days apart, both happened in California; and both individuals are photographers. Wooo-wooo. This is a picture of my Dad taken before I was born.


23. We didn’t have a TV in our family when I was growing up. I didn’t own a TV until I was 34 years old. When conversation turns to childhood TV favorites, I’m in the dark.
24. My husband enjoys a wide variety of TV shows, and early in our relationship introduced me to "The Simpsons." At first I thought the show was rather goofy, but now I love to watch and laugh at their crazy antics… the goofier the better.
25. The editors of "500 Beaded Objects" chose my piece for the cover of the book. When they called to tell me about it, I was speechless for several seconds. "Hello.. are you there? Hello?..." Sometimes I still have to pinch myself.
26. My earliest sewing experience was making crepe paper ballet costumes when I was about 6 years old. My grandmother taught my brother and me how to sew on her treadle sewing machine for this purpose.
27. Machine sewing is ok, but I much prefer to stitch by hand.
28. With a boy friend, I rode my bicycle around Europe (England, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Austria - about 4,500 miles altogether) for three months in the summer of 1974. By camping and cooking most of our meals, we did the whole trip (except air fare) for $300 each. That was a highlight of my life.
29. Another highlight was hiking all the way around Mt. Rainier on the Wonderland Trail (about 100 miles) in 1973. There were four of us; it took 10 days; we carried everything on our backs (no stashes). We had no bear encounters, but we did get snowed on one night. I was the only one with a camera, so there's only this one picture of me from that hike.


30. While we’re on the subject of highlights, another has to be performing (Hungarian folk dance) at the World’s Fair when it was in Vancouver, BC. Scared… excited… whirl of time and clap of hands… relieved to be finished… fun memory!!!
31. It sounds like I’m bragging, which I don’t like.
32. I love all cats, including tigers, lions, snow leopards, etc. The jury is out on dogs. At age eight, I adored my first cat, Tippy.


33. My parents were avid bird watchers and instilled an early knowledge and appreciation of back yard birding.
34. I believe in the concept of totem animals.
35. Writing poems and journaling are two things that nourish my creativity.
36. I have a master’s degree in counseling psychology and worked as a counselor for about 7 years. Those were not the happiest years of my life.
37. My next career was in the theatre business… first as a subscription and box office manager for an equity theatre, then ten years in marketing for a company selling theatre equipment and supplies. Fun times; challenging work.
38. Box office hours were 5 days on, then 5 days off… During my days off I was a metalsmith, making fabricated gold and silver jewelry. This was great fun! Except that I didn’t much care for making more than one of anything, and flat out didn’t like the selling aspects of it.
39. Therefore, when beadlust hit me like a tornado, I decided to make my living selling beads and teaching rather than trying to sell my work. Good plan! Never regretted (or changed) that decision, although I do sell some jewelry at local events and on line.
40. Ok.. a new subject needed here… what about "true confessions?" OK. I’m addicted to chocolate. I hoard it, binge on it, lie about it, feel controlled by it. Finally, I decided there was only one solution – abstinence. I have not eaten any chocolate since the summer of 2002. This is good.
41. Red, rose and pink were my favorite colors for a long time. Now I'd have to add purple to that list. This picture was taken in 1982, just after I had my long hair cut and permed.


42. I’ve always tended to dress conservatively.
43. I don’t wear makeup; never have, except for an occasional party when I was young.
44. I love learning how to make or do new things.
45. I’ve played more games of spider solitaire on the computer than I care to admit.
46. This list was going ok for a while, but now it’s overwhelming me again… I’m not even half way yet.
47. Did I tell you I ride motorcycle? Nope, I’m definitely NOT a Harley babe. I ride a Suzuki Intruder, 800 cc bike and totally love it!
48. I took the Motorcycle Rider Safety course (which I recommend), just to be on the safe side, in case something happened to my husband while we were cruising a back road… so I could ride to get help. Ha! Wheeeeeeee! Thanks, I’ll get my own bike, dear! This was my second bike, a Honda Shadow 500 and I'm with my husband, Robert.


49. I was 54 when I met my husband and 57 when I got my first motorcycle.
50. No kids. Married (first/only time) at age 58.
51. Regrets about not having kids? Oh, just a little sometimes. Fortunately, I have a close relationship with my nieces and nephews. This is my nephew, Andy, who is now a grown man and a special person in my life.


52. My husband has kept active friendships with his friends from high school. I haven’t kept in touch with any of my HS friends, and only two of my college friends.
53. But my best and dearest woman friend and I have been confidants for more than 35 years.
54. By nature, I’m a night owl.
55. I lived on a houseboat on Lake Union in Seattle for about 5 years. That was back when it was a rather hippie thing to do. Now it’s yuppie and EXPENSIVE.
56. Learning and practicing tai chi was a passion for about 5 years.
57. I regret that I haven’t kept at it.
58. I especially love "tree chi gong," which is about sensing and drawing in vertical and horizontal energies from trees. I still do it.
59. As a child I wanted to be a ballet dancer when I grew up.
60. As a teenager, I wanted to be a math teacher when I grew up. I enjoyed learning in High School. This is me, a junior in HS, writing a paper.


61. As an young adult, I didn’t know what I wanted to be and didn’t want to grow up.
62. Finally, when I discovered beads, the artist in me awakened and flourished and I knew what I was.
63. The jury is out on "rebirth," but if there is such a thing, it might be fun to come back the next time around as a well-loved pet cat. Here's a picture of our darling and somewhat comical cat, Hollie Three-Bell-Huntress.


64. Heights frighten me. As I walked across a rope suspension bridge crossing a gorge on our hike around Mt. Rainier, I had to close my eyes. My brother said I kept repeating "Oh mamma, oh mamma…" all the way across. If we hadn’t been three quarters of the way around, I would have insisted that we not cross, but rather turn back the way we came. Here's a picture of my friend, Anne, crossing that bridge.


65. The name of my favorite childhood book is "Marshmallow," about a rabbit and a cat.
66. My favorite childhood color was pink. I still like it. I can almost remember the corduroy coat I'm wearing in this picture; I think it was pink.


67. If our family could have afforded it, I would have loved to take ice skating lessons. I was a fearless skater.
68. My ballet teacher told my parents (in my hearing) that I was too large to be a dancer… that male dancers wouldn’t be able to lift me…. and that they were wasting their money paying for ballet classes for me. Scum bag.
69. The jury is out on zoos… some good, some bad things about them. But always, my first impulse is to find the tigers. This is Olivia; she's in a rescue shelter located in Idaho.


70. I’ve traveled alone in Hungary, Romania, East Germany and the Czech Republic when they were Communist countries. Someday it might be fun to write about my travel adventures.
71. Hungary is in my blood. I feel at home there, even though I have no Hungarian ancestry that I know of. And, did I mention before that I adore Hungarian folk music?
72. Part of me appreciates and values being an American, especially after traveling in Eastern block countries and China. Part of me is embarrassed to be American. Yet, our basic rights, our freedom, should not be taken for granted.
73. One place I’ve always wanted to visit is "down under" – both Australia and New Zealand.
74. Another place I’d like to see is the Andes, the mountains of South America, especially in Peru.
75. And while we’re on the subject of travel, let’s add southern China, especially Yunan Province.
76. Really, the truth is I’m a little worn out with travel. At first I think the idea sounds great; then I get discouraged by the effort and cost involved.
77. Miniature things fascinate me.
78. A stuffed tiger (white with black stripes), stuffed chicken (white with black polka dots) and an itty-bitty figurine of a Dalmatian puppy (white with black ears and spots) are sitting on the top of my computer.
79. My favorite postage stamp is of a samurai rabbit – 1986 –Korean.
80. During my college years, I considered myself to be a card shark, especially bridge. I played duplicate bridge for a while (and did fairly well at it), but didn’t really enjoy being around other sharks. Besides playing solitaire and hearts on the computer, I haven’t played cards for ages and ages.
81. Beads, paper, scissors, glue, needles, thread, paint, crayons, rubber stamps, stencils, fabrics, yarns, ribbons, lace, cameras and computers are blessings in my life.
82. Digital cameras save me a HEAP of money, because I like to take a LOT of pictures.
83. I’m hardly shy at all when I get in front of an audience, even a really big one.
84. But, at a party or any social gathering, I’m painfully shy. Go figure.
85. I can write HTML, and enjoy it.
86. I do not like to cook… not at all.
87. Baking is OK, especially making bread.
88. House cleaning is another chore that becomes a millstone around my neck, although the results (when I finally get around to doing it) make me feel really good.
89. Sorry, my thumbs are NOT green either, although I love to arrange flowers.
90. I’m the eldest of 5 – three brothers and one sister. Roxanna, the youngest, is 16 years my junior.
91. Mostly I vote Democrat.
92. I’m nearly omnivorous, although in my 50’s I developed intolerance for the entire onion-garlic family and for lactose.
93. For a while I was a volunteer reader for the blind. I read text books on tape for use by blind students. It made me feel a bit guilty to have so much fun volunteering.
94. My best woman friend and I volunteered for oiled bird rescue for a couple of weeks. It would have been unbearably sad had not a few of the birds been returned safely to the wild. The good part was that so many concerned and kind-hearted people gave of their time and energies trying to save some of these poor creatures.
95. I’d like to do more volunteer work, and look forward to that during the next ten years or so as I wind down traveling to teach.
96. My husband says this "100 things" was too easy… I should go for 200. HA!
97. My husband wants me to make a moss angel in the wet soggy moss during our spring rains. Maybe I’ll surprise him one of these days and actually do it!
98. Right now I have an urge to knit some wild and wacky socks.
99. Wildflowers, sunshine, rain, mountains, Orcas, Kingfishers, Wren Tits, Quails, trails, Madrona trees, foxes, deer, rocks, pebbles and oceans are among the many blessings in my life. I took this pictures of Orcas swimming off the west side of San Juan Island, where I live.


100. I am richly blessed by a loving husband, close family, solid friendships, questioning students and creative colleagues. Life is good!