I've been tagged!

Goodness Gracious Me.

I am so happy to have reopened my ETSY shop, and to be re-engaged with the incredible community there. I love being around artisitic people, just like I love being around smart people. I guess I keep hoping some of that goodness will rub off on me and make me more more more!

So, one of those incredible interesting etsians has "tagged" me. Who would do such a thing, you might ask...who? I was tagged by the incredible, interesting, and talented Judy Nolan, who is the proprietress of JN Originals on etsy. Judy creates fabulous works of art with fabrics and fibers, and her shop is worth a look for sure. Judy also authors the blog Word Walks, and it is there that I learned about being tagged.

The rules when you are tagged are quite specific. You must share six facts about yourself that most people don't know, and then tag six other people who need to do the same thing. It kind of reminds me of the Six Word Memoirs that I have been reading - although you get to use a lot more words. I will be looking for all you tagged folks to respond, so here we go. Ready or not, here are six things about me that may or may not be interesting, but they are facts nonetheless:

I love to read. This may not surprise any of you, but it is still quite true. I read non-fiction and fiction and science fiction. I love hard science fiction most, but love to read anything that uses fantastic phrases, sentences, words - I love language, I love word play, I love words. I am often reading 5 books and a magazine or two at a time, all stacked by my bed. I read between 20 - 30 blogs regularly. I try to read the paper - that is when I run out of time, dang it! I just don't sleep well without reading, and when I used to travel my suitcases were heavy with books.

I am an introvert. This may be obvious to some, but often people seem surprised when they learn this. I have become more introverted over time, and it isn't because I don't love people. It is because I am not excited about being the center of attention, it is because I like to think before responding to new things, it is because I like to have time to sort things out - and that often means time alone. I like to be alone. In my house, working with my crafts, hanging out, reading, writing. Of course, I love to be with Regie, and I LOVE to be with my family and I love to be with my friends - but I also like to be alone. Myers and Briggs, that incredible mother-daughter pair that pioneered personality typing, would tell you that I am an INFP - and in a few words that means I need time to think through everything so that I can make a list and then lose it. :) And I am ok with that.

I took piano lessons for 12 years. I really love music, and playing the piano was something that I loved because I could really get better with practice. I didn't think I had any talent in anything creative - I sure as heck couldn't draw - so the piano was something wonderful that I really enjoyed. I certainly wasn't a genius, but I had fun and learned wonderful music. My grandfather had a musical ear like no other. He could listen to a song and come home and play it on the piano. He bought the piano for me and I have it to this day. None of my children ever took piano lessons - what was I thinking? Maybe my grandchildren will come around.

My life was changed by the Three Mile Island accident. We lived in Reading PA and I was pregnant with my first child. We were vegetarians living in a commune like arrangement where we shared a large house in the country with two other couples, three big dogs, multiple cats, and two horses. We ate natural foods and were peaceful - and I was pregnant. What a miracle! What an emotional roller coaster! What a fascinating time of my life! We had just gone (the week before) to see the movie "The China Syndrome" with Jane Fonda - a movie about a nuclear power plant accident. And Three Mile Island happened. You know, you just have to wonder at the timing, don't you. Well, no one knew what to think - and no one knew what would happen. NPR was reporting and people were scared. And my mid-wife said - if you have somewhere to go, go. My parents lived in North Carolina, so we got in the car and go-ed. We stayed in the Carolinas for about two weeks until things were calm, settled, and "blown over." Then we returned to Reading. After I had my son, we moved entirely. To a house, in the country, in Lancaster South Carolina. And started over.

I got my college degree after the birth of my first child. I started college right after high school, but didn't have the interest or determination to stay. I went home, went to work, met my first husband, got married, had a baby, and moved to Lancaster. THEN, I went back to college. It was hard, doing school, managing the money tightly, taking care of the baby - but it happened with persistance and determination - and so I want everyone to know that getting your degree can happen anytime you want it to - and should. In fact, it is my secret desire to go back to college one day and get an advanced degree in physics!

Though I am not a fan of symmetry, I love math and order. And not order in my house, y'all. Order in the universe. The incredible, fascinating, wonderful universe. And yes, math. Fantastic and hard for me math, the math I still count on my fingers for sometimes. The math that makes me turn on my brain and struggle til I figure it out. The algebra. The calculus. I love it. My favorite play is called The Proof. Who knew?