I’ve been tagged twice for a new Meme: Eight Facts/Habits

I’m am sooooo loved (or, erm, tortured…not sure which) because I have been tagged for thsi meme TWICE – by the El Padre, and also by Missy, of Big Fish Stories.

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1) I get up between 4:30 and 5:00am everyday – even Saturday and Sunday. I do this for self-preservation. This is my time to read, write and do my “me” things each day without interruption. If anyone wakes up early with me, MAN does it make me grumpy. My husband wishes I folded laundry and did quiet housechores at this time. I say, FEH! If I was a normal person, I’d be sleeping for at least another 1-1 1/2 hours. This is MY time, and I only do ME stuff at that time. Before I refound God, I used to exercise at this time. Since I have found God, and decided to do EfM and reintroduce my self to theology, exercise has fallen by the wayside. This isn’t so good.

2) I am 5’0″.  My husband is 6’4″.  Nuff said.

3) My oldest child is adopted.  We got Jacob Douglas (Jake) when he was 5 days old. He was born prematurely,- by about 6 weeks, and he had some apnea in the hospital, so he came home “plugged” as we liked to say (on a monitor).  It was a private, open adoption which we did through an attorney and it was the most stressful time of my life. His birthmom’s rights were not terminated until he was 4 months old, and she was very conflicted about giving him up. It made things scary because up until her rights were terminated, she could take him back.  At the hospital, she really wasn’t sure she could go through with it.  I took her aside and told her that she couldn’t give up her baby to please Evan and me.  It had to be that it was the right decision for her to make.  I’d be hurt and upset, but that was my stuff to deal with.  If this wasn’t the right thing for all of us, she could take J. home (she had named him Joshua) and another baby would come to Evan and I.  Those were the hardest words I ever spoke in my life, but, I meant them. (Although, in hindsight, I don’t know WHERE that Eileen came from…the real Eileen was squashed somewhere deep inside me shouting “I WANT THIS BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON’T TELL HER SHE CAN TAKE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!) The words seemed to free her, and we did leave the hospital with Jake, who will be 10 in August. He’s the child I never thought I’d have.

2) Since we couldn’t have more children (and adoption is expensive) we decided to buy a slightly bigger house, in a town closer to where I worked, and a bit closer to where Evan worked (read more expensive town, higher taxes). Jake would be in school in two years, so we went for it.  I didn’t make one mortgage payment before I found out I was pregnant, with Jenna.  When I did the at home test, I sat for 15 minutes in stunned silence in the bathroom.  When I woke Evan up to tell him, his words were “I thought those tests didn’t work for you.” To which I replied, “No…they just have never come out positive.”  We couldn’t even talk about it.  Jenna just turned 6. We’ve never recovered our emotional or financial equilibrium, but, I’m so glad she’s here.  She’s the pregnancy I never thought I’d experience.  So you see, both my children are a miracle.

3)  It took me 10 years to finish my MA in Counseling Psychology, simply because, as MadPreist so succintly said below, I can’t make up my freakin’ mind.  I have no earthly clue as to what I want to be when I grow up, but, I know I like school, and I’d stay in forever.  It seems to me that I probably should have been a rabbai.

4)  I graduated from an all women’s Catholic college located near a Yeshiva University in a the center of a VERY orthodox Jewish community.  The hillarity of this never ceases to amaze me: the habits and the beards abound there.   Both of my degrees are from this college (now univeristy) and I worked there for six years. (Do you think I was having a hard time cutting the apron string?)

5) I lost over 60lbs with Weight Watchers.  I’ve gained 20+ of them back recently and this really pisses me off (most especially with myself).  Weight Watchers really works, and you can eat real food, etc.  Exercise helps ALOT.

6) I prefer tea to coffee. I drink several cups of tea each morning, with Splenda and milk.  I mostly drink Tetley or Red Rose brand, however, I can find a brand called Dublin Tea, which I love best of all. It’s from Ireland, like many of my ancestors.

7) I studied French in high school and college because I was born tongue tied, and I can’t roll my tongue.  As an idiotic adolescent, I didn’t want to be embarassed by speaking Spanish with a speech impediment – a given, considering the condition of my own unique brand of humanity.

8) I love animals.  Right now I own a two cats, a guniea pig, and fish. I’d happily add a dog, some bunnies, a hamster, and a bird to this mix, but my husband will have further grounds to divorce me. (I sometimes don’t think this would be a terrible thing…)

There you have it…me in a nutshell.

I tag the following well loved volunteers:

Mary Sue
Pisco
Jarred
Doxy
KJ
PJ
Kay
And Last but not least Catherine+

And anyone else who wants to play: You can post on your blog and link back here, or post here if you don’t have a blog (This means YOU KJ!)