Useless trivia about yours truly

1. I HATE Halloween with a burning passion deep within my soul. It epitomizes things I hate about society. Let's encourage our children to pretend to be something they're clearly not, and then send them door to door begging for food. I find nothing fun about it. We normally buy a bunch of candy, turn off all the lights, hide at the back of the house, and eat all of said candy while watching movies.

2. I can't fall asleep unless I have my feet sticking out of the covers. I hate for my feet to be warm when I'm sleeping - they must be at least a few degrees below my core temperature for the optimal snooze.

3. I LOVE leftover lasagna and enchiladas. Sometimes (you know, twice a year when I actually make dinner) I'll make one or the other just so I can eat them again the next day. I'm always disappointed if we eat them all in one sitting so I usually make a lot so I can devour them later. They just taste better after sitting in the fridge overnight.

4. I refuse to eat vegetables. I'll eat potatoes and corn, but only corn on the cob. Other than that, veggies are out for me. I'm pretty selective about fruits as well. I'll occasionally have an apple (green or yellow) or some watermelon in the summer but that's it. I'm also lactose intolerant so most diary is out of my diet as well. For this reason, it's really hard for me to commit to going to someone else's house to eat. I'm always afraid I'll offend the person cooking because I won't like the food. So I like to invite people to my house or go out to eat with friends.

5. I think about people I've lost touch with ALL THE TIME. I think that's probably the reason I like blogging so much - it's easy to stay in touch that way and keep up with other people's lives. I have so many wonderful memories of so many wonderful people that it makes me sad to think about how many of them I have little or no contact with now. So I love to reconnect with people I've known in the past. And it always makes me so happy to hear when people are doing well or have been really successful in their lives and I also get really sad to hear when things haven't gone as well for others.

6. Along those same lines, it really bothers me to think about people I've offended along the way. It makes me so sad to think of how many bridges I've probably burned over the years. For instance, I had a friend, Lindsay, in high school. She was a couple of years younger than me and one summer we hung out all the time. Then once school started it seemed like we didn't ever hang out anymore and I'm sure in my naive and selfish youth, I was probably mean to her. I feel bad about that. I also feel bad about how many of my friends' boyfriends/crushes I made out with in high school and how much I'd fight with girls who liked my current boyfriend. So lame!

7. I think Toby is hot when he wears his glasses and his hat backwards. He makes me laugh every day and sometimes we have to force ourselves to stop chattering on and on at night and go to sleep. We just love to lay in bed and talk all night long. Man, I love that guy!

8. I have the most adorable kids on the planet. I hope that doesn't offend anyone - your kids are all cute too, but mine honestly are the cutest - sorry!

9. I don't read. I mean, I know how. I'm not illiterate or anything. But I don't recreationally read. The last book I read for fun was in 2001. I think I got too much of books in college and it took all the fun out of reading for me. Besides, I read IRC (Internal Revenue Code) crap at work all the time which is SO not fun that the last thing I want to do in my spare time is pick up a book.

10. I desperately wish I could sing. I have no musical talent whatsoever, and for the most part that doesn't bother me. I don't long to play the piano or some other instrument. But I would absolutely love to be able to sing. I love music but I can't carry a tune in a bucket. When your child tells you that you sound funny, you know it's bad.

11. This won't be news to anyone who's known me well at all in the last 15 years, but I ADORE Audrey Hepburn! So much that I named my daughter after her. I just think she's gorgeous and super-talented and I happen to love nearly all of her movies - and I own most of them as well. And please no one bring up Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins & the Oscars - I'm still trying to get over it, ok?

12. I count myself to sleep at night. I've always had a hard time falling asleep at night. I used to take prescription sleeping pills, but I got sick of the groggy feeling I always had the next day. I also used to fall asleep watching My Fair Lady every single night (see above referenced A.H. adoration), but once I got married I had to some up with another idea - Toby was not loving listening to "wouldn't it be loverly" every night. I can't figure out why. So I was laying awake one night, probably 5 years ago or so, and I was thinking about the concept of counting sheep. So I thought I'd give the counting idea a whirl, and it worked! So now I count myself to sleep at night. Once I commit to sleeping I usually don't make it past 70, but if I make it to 200, I'll start over at 1. Is that weird?