100 Random Things

I meant to do this for my 100th post...but I never got around to it. And I've been so busy, that I've been composing this blog for several days.


I'm sure that most people who are my buddies already know most of this stuff...but who knows? Maybe you'll find something blackmail worthy...


1. My middle name is Kathleen.

2. My oldest daughter was born in the same hospital that I was born in.

3. I am currently 100 pounds overweight. People laugh when I say this...because they think it is an exaggeration. But it's not...I "kept" 20 pounds of baby weight as a memento of the birth of each one of my 5 children. 5 babies x 20 pounds = ... You do the math.

4. I hate math.

5. I LOVE animation. My favorite show OF ALL TIME is Avatar: The Last Airbender...and I can't wait for the live action movie next summer.

6. My favorite animated movie is Howl's Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki...yah...I'm an anime nerd.

7. And while we're on the subject...I also love comic books...with X-Men being my all-time favorite. I have a super-secret crush on Gambit...if he showed up on my door...I'd have to cheat on my husband (even though he's 2-dimensional). Sick and sad, I know...

8. I love to travel, and get antsy if we live any one place too long.

9. I am severely anemic...I take great big Iron pills with OJ every morning.

10. My hair is turning white, and I refuse to do anything about it.

11. My great-great-great-great-and-some-more-greats grandfather on my FATHER'S side was supposedly the bastard son of Lord Lyon of England and a house servant. The servant was sent to America with my grandfather in the late 1700's to avoid scandal. It's a dead end on our family genealogy line...

12. My great-great-great uncle on my MOTHER'S side is Kit Carson, the famous frontiersman and Indian fighter.

13. I am horrible with budgeting...pretty much the sole reason we struggle financially (well...not REALLY...but I don't help...)

14. I spent 3 months of my life when I was 16 living in a rehab facility in Utah with an assortment of seriously demented kids and even more demented "counselors".

15. I am writing it all down in book form for my kids (when they're much older and I'm dead and gone)...but I actually have repressed memory syndrome from some of the trauma I experienced...so it's taking a long time.

16. Jason and I wanted 10 kids, and had names picked out for all of them (5 girls and 5 boys). We gave up half-way through...

17. Names we didn't use: BOYS (in order) - Zion, Jaxon, and Griffin GIRLS (in order): Jonquil (nickname "Jonni"), and Ginger (with Charlotte as a runner-up)

18. My favorite band OF ALL TIME is Oingo Boingo.

19. Everytime I tell people that, I get the same reaction..."REALLY? That's a weird choice...not the Beatles? Or the Stones? Or Nirvana?"...NO PEOPLE!!! Oingo Boingo!!! All hail Danny Elfman (I'm not worthy!! I'm not worthy!!)

20. I can't make the commitment to homeschool, although I know it would be better for my kids.

21. My favorite chore is laundry. There is something therapeutic about sorting, folding, ironing, and mending. It keeps me in touch with my children and centered in a chaotic house.

22. On the other hand, I hate cleaning bathrooms. I get totally grossed out at other people's funk.

23. My husband still gets me hot...12 years and 5 kids later. It's a good thing we're both incapable of making more babies...

24. If I could have any car...I would trade it in for a Harley. (But until they make 7-seater bikes...I'm stuck with a minivan).

25. My bedspread is a "Jungle Floral" pattern with lots of green, orange, and hot pink.

26. I crave different sweets at very different, but very specific, times of the month.

27. I've seen Celine Dion in concert. It's a low-point on my "cool" meter...but no one can deny that the chick has PIPES.

28. I've also been to two LollaPaloozas ('93 and '96), which allowed me to see Alice in Chains, Fishbone, Dinosaur Jr., White Zombie, Devo, Soundgarden, Metallica, Primus, Front 242, and many, many others...Oingo Boingo's LAST Halloween Bash, Pearl Jam, the Ramones, Blue Man Group, and the TransSiberian Orchestra.

29. I taught my kids how to headbang.

30.I swear like a sailor when I stub my toe or encounter stupid people.

31. I love all kinds of animals...especially cats.

32. I am a Leo.

33. I wear flip-flops 365 days a year...except at the gym.

34. My favorite colors change seasonally...but I have a serious soft-spot for red and turquoise.

35. I used to be the voice of Crate & Barrel...the voice you heard when you called their 1-800 number to order from the catalog.

36. I have serious OCD issues...but only for the strangest things...like making sure hangers match in a closet.

37. I read all my books barely cracked open so I don't break the bindings. I never fold over pages, and I store dust jackets in a ziploc while I'm reading. (See? OCD.)

38. I had a boyfriend off and on my freshman, sophomore, and junior year that abused me physically, emotionally, and verbally.

39. I still think about him.

40. My dad was awarded the California Medal of Honor...the highest award for bravery at the time...for rescuing two pilots from a burning plane that crashed in the middle of a minefield during a military exercise at Edwards Military Base. I was about 7 years old...and remember the ceremony.

41. I used to play the clarinet, and played in the Alta Loma High School Marching Band my freshman year.

42. I get bored easily, and while I'm bored, I record weird messages on my answering machine.

43. I was voted "Most Likely To Write A Book" in high school.

44. I once stole a roll of yellow "Caution/Cuidado" tape from a firetruck right in front of the firefighters. My friend Cristi was with me, and she couldn't stop laughing for , like, 2 days.

45. Cristi and I once spun out her car (a Honda CRX) and crashed into a wall while street racing down Vineyard Avenue.

46. My favorite place to hang out used to be Cafe Luna. It went out of business while I lived in Chicago, and I cried.

47. I love to garden, cross-stitch, scrapbook, and cook. At least, that's what my Relief Society profile says about me.

48. What it DOESN'T say is that I love punk and metal, fantasy books, movies, and shopping.

49. I have a hard time making friends...and I never tell one person everything about me.

50. I majored in Microbiology in college.

51. My favorite place to go camping is San Onofre ("Nofre") in California.

52. I hate mystery's and science fiction.

53. My favorite food is Asian-Island fusion.

54. If I could run away and join the circus, I'd want to be the Lion Tamer.

55. I have two tattoos...a lion on my back and a Leo glyph on my ankle.

56. I wish I could have more.

57. My first car was a red Pontiac Sunbird.

58. I used to be a lunch lady for Valley View School District. I embarrassed my daughter every day.

59. My favorite holiday is Halloween...followed closely by Christmas.

60. As a child, I had terrible, gory, recurring nightmares...one that involved going to the supermarket with my parents, and finding out that a werewolf had turned the market into a giant meat grinder and was grinding up people. In my dream, my dad went to go "Check Things Out", and I begged him not to go because I knew he would die. He went anyway. I could see people being hacked up and mutilated in the grinder. I had the dream over and over again, and it was obviously so scarring that I still remember it in detail today.

61. I suspect that my memory of these violent dreams as a child is the reason that although I am a fairly dark-humored individual who loves Halloween and loves to be scared, I cannot watch gory horror films...no matter how cheesey.

62. The book Lovely Bones made me physically ill to my stomach.

63. I hate chick flicks.

64. My greatest fear is that one of my children will be stolen from me and abused in some way. Sometimes I wake up at night crying from dreaming about it.

65. Sometimes I am driving down the freeway, and I have the sudden urge to drive away and not stop...not look back...just disappear...

66. I love water and could swim everyday.

67. My favorite season is Autumn.

68. I love things that sparkle and glimmer...glitter is GOOD.

69. I was on TV once...when the local News Station busted a ring of Illegal Teenage Street Racing, and the camera man zoomed in on me running from the cops with an open bottle of beer in my hand. My parents saw the "Special Expose" on the 8 o'clock news the following night. So did everyone else's parents, and my already torrid reputation took an additional dive.

70. I used to be the Assistant General Manager for a Fredericks of Hollywood. My name badge said "Ass. Manager"...you can imagine the jokes...

71. I idolize my sister-in-law Tara, but I've given up trying to emulate her because it's too hard to behave.

72. Right now I'm watching Bones, Vampire Diaries, Dollhouse, and House.

73. I HATE reality shows...the only one I'll watch is So You Think You Can Dance.

74. We once lived in a hotel for 2 months when the sale of our house in one place fell through and affected our purchase of another home in a new place. That poor hotel will never be the same.

75. I once stole a mattress from someones trash and set it on fire in an ex-boyfriends driveway.

76. On really bad days, I still crave a cigarette.

77. My kids mean everything to me...for all my faults and past sins...I try everyday to be better so they'll never know my shortcomings. Unfortunately...I still chuck up.

78. I think I have ADD.

79. My sister once kicked my ass in front of my mom...I was winning until she brought her knee up into my face...then all I saw was stars...

80. I once dated a guy for 2 weeks with purple hair...

81. I was a big, huge nerd in elementary school...one of my supposedly "good friends" used to refer to me as "Red Dog" behind my back...then in high school I bloomed and was fairly hot...and he had to eat his words.

82. I've lived in 6 different states...California, Utah, Illinois, Nevada, Texas, and Florida.

83. The only country I've ever been to besides the USA is Canada.

84. I REALLY need a vacation.

85. I can shot a handgun, rifle, shotgun, and crossbow with good accuracy.

86. Mosquito's never bite me...they eat everyone in my family BUT me. Maybe I taste bad...

87. When I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up.

88. I'm afraid of ghosts.

89. I almost always order water to drink at restaurants.

90. I want to hike to the top of Angels Landing in Zion National Park next summer, but I'm scared because I have developed a fear of heights over the last 3 years.

91. I like afternoon naps.

92. When I was preggers with my son Joseph, I craved Starburst jelly beans.

93. My ideal vacation destination is Phuket, Thailand.

94. I LOVE roller coasters.

95. I spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME on the computer.

96. I can't figure out the song "Ana Ng" by They Might Be Giants...but I love it anyway.

97. I love to paint.

98. I cry over really dumb commercials.

99. I have a REALLY high pain threshold.

100. My favorite time of day is twilight (and it has nothing to do with the books).

There's a weird and wacky look into me...see ya!!

Shannan