25 Random Things about Sherree

A while back Dan published his list of 25 random things that he posted on Facebook. Here is the list that I completed as well. I didn’t have a problem coming up with 25 things — I actually have many more things I could drone on about. I’ve started more of a short item list in my head, which maybe I will publish someday. Do people really want to know about me?

1. I have always been clumbsy and my mother referred to me as “Grace” sarcastically often. The favorite story is from when I was a toddler. I pushed a chair up to the hamster cage and climbed up. After taking him out, I must have dropped him and ended up sitting on him. He never saw my big butt coming…. every hamster’s worst nightmare- suffocation by diaper.

2. My mother and grandmother practically force-fed me seconds and thirds of crappy, unhealthy food including my sister’s picked-over meals, and I blame them for my weight issues. Stacy is skinny because I had to eat her nasty McDonald hamburgers and pizza.

3. I always hated living in a trailer park growing up because I felt like a loser. But, I think that it was the best thing for me. There were kids my age to play with all the time as well as a lot of wooded areas where we made forts and rode bikes. I wasn’t much of an outdoor girl back then, but I wouldn’t have been outside as much if I didn’t have those resources.

4. The trailer park had a dirt pile. Three of us kids had younger siblings about the same age, but I was the only one with a sister. Every week we married Stacy off to one of the other boys (the ceremony was complete with the exchange of those little jelly ringsfrom the 80s) and us older kids took turns officiating.

5. I remember walking a mile down the road after school with a book bag overflowing with binders and all of my textbooks to do homework. My current students whine incessantly about simple assignments and refuse to carry their textbooks to class, never mind take them home. They are so lazy, and I’m tired of it.

6. I really wanted to join Brownies in elementary school, but Mom said no. 17 years later I bacame a Brownie leader and had those girls until this year when they entered high school. I miss doing stuff with them.

7. I love to cook, and it is something that my Dad instilled in me. I even made a home video once as a kid of my own cooking show. It started out as a group effort with Stacy, but by the time the dessert came around, we had a fight and she left.

8. I started taking French in middle school, much to my father’s dissatisfaction. In seventh grade we put on a night of plays (in French) to raise money for our exchange student program. Because I have red hair, Madame Diez Canseco forced me to be Little Red Riding Hood. I remember that the script was incredibly repeatative as I met various animals in the forest. The only animal that I remember was a tropical fish hiding a squirt gun, and I got wet. Dan has taken me on a lot of nature hikes, and we have never encountered a tropical fish, so they must only exist in the forests of France.

9. I was a total band geek in middle and high school. I was a good clarinet player (not great because of the tendency to be a slacker) and I miss playing it. I can’t play it anymore anyway because I broke it in half by hitting an annoying freshman with it in the arm. The other student instructor in the section sqealed on me and I was stripped on my title. She did it because I was editor-in-chief of the newspaper and would not give her a position there.

10. I met Dan during the first newspaper meeting my freshman year in high school. He was a senior and I was a freshman. I ended up becoming an editor that year as well, so we spent a lot of time together. However, Dan and his buddies took opportunity to make my life difficult. I held my own though. I remember one night I split James’ knuckle open with a spatula…. it can be done!

11. I only dated 4 guys before Dan and 3 of them were in high school. The first one ended badly and he came over to my apartment when my mother wasn’t home to reconcile. I was dumb and let him in. In the middle of the fight, my mother came home, I panicked, and I shoved him into the closet (because that’s what they do in the movies). My mother asked me to start the laundry, so I returned to my bedroom with my knees shaking so badly that I could barely stand up. I told him to leave, so he bolted out of the apartment and ran up the hill. I followed him out with the laundry and watched my mother from the parking lot see this boy run out of the apartment (which she had not entered yet). I was waiting for my appointment with death…. and it never came. I still don’t understand how that NEVER became a topic of conversation, considering how strict my mother was.

12. I was one of those kids that figured out how to do work to just get by with decent grades. I read many more Cliff Notes than actual books in high school. Now I despise my own students that have the same lack of effort at such a young age.

13. I joined the church as a junior in high school after being invited by my third boyfriend. I had a personal experience with God that proved to me His exisistance. I’ve never doubted it since.

14. I’m an easily-swayed person, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to hold my own. I was swayed to drop my dreams in high school and choose to attend Bible college. I don’t regret it because I’m the person that I am today because of my experiences at NCU, but I was deterred from my original dreams and it took a long time (and a lot of money) to come back around to them.

15. I knew my second year at NCU that I would marry Dan. It took him another year and a half to figure it out. I was content to wait, though I always cried at the airport when I left him.

16. I tend to pick up accents easily- I don’t know why. However, after living back in CT for nine years now, I still say my “o” like they do in Minnesota. It freaks people out here sometimes. When I get angry, I get the New York/Rhode Island mix that my mother uses and I sound just like her when I’m yelling. Sometimes a southern accent also gets in the mix…. I don’t know where that comes from.

17. I love to sing, and I do it well. However, I can’t sing solos in public well. Especially in front of adults. Same with speaking. I’ve always been fine presenting/performing in front of kids or teens. As soon as there is an adult in the room, I’m a mess. For example, I had my last observation at school last week. The morning classes when fabulously. As soon as the assistant principal was in the room, my voice was shaky and I talked so fast I couldn’t breathe. Ugh.

18. I feel like Kevin Smith that I just couldn’t make a list, but I had to elaborate on almost every one with a story. I’m sorry if I bored you.

19. I hate being cold and I dislike being hot. I’m never going to find somewhere to live that satisfies both of these.

20. I love to scrapbook. Not only can I relive my memories, I can preserve them. I am disappointed that my family has no history or stories, so I want to leave something for the kids that I will have someday. It also allows me to be creative and it is a soothing expression of art for me. (And my new Disney album kicks butt- you have to see it.) In addition, with my school schedule, I can easily scrapbook free time away! YEAH!!!

21. I like playing games, but only the ones that I stand a chance at winning. However, I hate that I win games a lot, especially against Dan.

22. I HATE text messaging abbrieviations/alternative spelling and what they have done to the English language in this country, especially the kids.

23. My favorite candy bar is, and always has been, the Milky Way.

24. I’m a firm believer in divine intervention. Things have happened (many I that have viewed as incredible inconveniences or disruptions) which have led to many good things in my life if I just let the natural order of things occur without intervention.

25. I’m still grappling with the fact that I’m 30. However, looking back while doing this list has been a good thing. I started reminising because so many people said that they had trouble coming up with 25 things. I feel that I could come up with many more, but this is probably long enough. If you actually made it this far, thanks for listening!