MY 100TH POST.....

This "100 Things About Me" post is the tradition, of course, but I hope you have good health insurance. Reading this may put you into a coma. So in the interest of keeping with tradition.....

1. My name is Barbara Ann. If you call me that, I assume you're mad at me. If you call me Barbie, I assume you hate me. I'm just Barb.



2. I was born on August 18, 1950. I'm a mid-century baby.



3. Because I was born in 1950 I'm also known as a baby-boomer.



4. I was born in Beaumont, Texas. That's southeast Texas, close to the Gulf of Mexico.



5. When I was little, I thought I lived near the ocean.



6. My parents couldn't come up with a name for me so I was named after a pretty bride they saw in the Sunday newspaper. My middle name is the same as my mother's.



7. My mother was seventeen and my father was twenty-five when I was born. They'd been married for two years and were beginning to think they'd never get pregnant.



8. I am the oldest of six children.



9. My brother Jerry was born ten months after me. That was back in the day of the "you can't touch me for six weeks" post-partum thing. Someone forgot to tell my father.



10. All six of us were born within eight years. At twenty-five my mother had six children. She was a great mother. Still is. You may know her. She's Judith at Flight Song.



11. I have one sister. Bev. You probably know her, too. She's Blessed Beyond Measure.



12. I had four brothers. Jerry, Gary, Dwain and Derrell.



13. My brother Jerry committed suicide two years ago.



14. My father was a mailman and my mother was a stay-at-home mom of course. Women with children didn't work outside the home in the 50's. Actually very few women worked outside the home at all.



15. We were poor. But when we were little none of us children knew that.



16. My dad moved us a lot but almost always within the city limits of Beaumont.



17. I didn't go to kindergarten. I'm not sure there was such a thing when I was five.



18. Between first grade and high school graduation I went to eighteen different schools. That's a LOT of those terrifying new-girl-in-class moments.



19. I loved school and was a good student. I never made anything lower than an A on a report card - never - until 10th grade. I made a D- in Spanish. But only because the teacher hated me. Really.



20. My favorite subject was English. But I took a lot of home economics and secretarial classes.



21. My mother taught me to sew on her machine by letting me make Barbie doll clothes. That's a tough way to learn - itty bitty Barbie doll clothes are hard to make. I'm an excellent seamstress.



22. When I was twelve my mother got her driver's license and went to work as a clerk for the post office.



23. When my mother went to work, I grew up. I had four little brothers and one little sister who needed to be fed, helped with homework, bathed and just cared for in general. My mother worked evenings.



24. To this day, I cook for an army. I don't believe it's possible to cook for two.



25. In high school I wanted more than anything to be a Buffalo Belle. That was our high school precision drill team and the uniform and white boots with tassels were gorgeous. I couldn't do it. My parents didn't have $30 for the uniform and I had to go right home after school to take care of my brothers and sister.



26. I was involved in every single activity I could join in high school as long as it didn't involve much in the way of after-school practice or meetings. I was "popular."



27. From the eighth grade through graduation, I went steady with one boy. He was a star football player and president of the senior class. That's one reason I was popular.



28. The summer after high school graduation he and I got engaged.



29. I got my first car before I got my driver's license. I was 17. My first car was a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle. Baby blue. I put stick-on flower power flowers all over it.



30. My first job was as an inventory clerk for a small paint manufacturing company in Beaumont. I was 17. My boss was a six foot tall, red headed ex nun named Susie. My pay was $45 a week.



31. My fiance's father died the summer after we graduated. His mother moved to Waco and he asked me to go with her and live with her so she wouldn't be alone. After a year of prep school he was going away to a military academy for four years, followed by three years mandatory military service. So the plan was I'd live with her for eight years and then we'd get married.



32. I worked for a religious record company in Waco for three months. A good friend I made there and her husband introduced me to a bachelor friend of theirs. Two weeks later I eloped with him. We were married at the capital building in downtown Denver.



33. When I called my parents from Denver to tell them I was getting married, I didn't know his last name. My father had to be sedated.



34. My first husband was a nice guy. He was a poet and a writer and a wanderer. But he was also an alcoholic who had a major aversion to full-time work. He didn't want to settle in one place - liked to make major moves all over the country - and he didn't want children. The marriage lasted nine years.



35. My divorce cost $39. That was what I paid for a do-it-yourself book and the court filing fee and it included getting my maiden name back.



36. I met Rob exactly two weeks after my divorce was final. We were married eight months after we met and will celebrate our 28th anniversary this November.



37. I was told when I was in my mid-twenties I'd probably never get pregnant. Our daughters were born during the first two years of our marriage.



38. I was a borderline flowerchild and believed in completely natural childbirth. So without any medication at all I gave birth to Krissy in three hours and one minute and Mandy in one hour and twenty-seven minutes. I'd take an epidural in a heartbeat if I had it to do all over.



39. When Rob and I were dating, I was involved in a car accident on my way to work. A sixteen year old girl in her daddy's cadillac ran a stopsign and pulled out in front of me. When I slammed on my brakes to avoid hitting her the sixteen year old girl in her daddy's cadillac behind me rear-ended me. I kid you not. I was uninjured but my car was totalled. The blue book value on it was $39 so I don't need to describe that car to you. I went through my credit union and bought a brand new yellow Camaro with a black interior, my dream car.



40. I worked from the time I graduated from high school until about five years ago.



41. I always held secretarial positions. And I was always considered really good at it. There was one eight year period where I was the administrator of our recreation district but that doesn't count because I was miserable.



42. Before I married Rob I lived in a lot of places. I've lived in Texas, Colorado, Massachusettes, Missouri, Vermont and Florida.



43. If I couldn't live in Colorado I'd go back to New England.



44. My husband and my two daughters are the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm a good wife and a good mother.



45. I have never had a large group of friends. I have one really good friend now. She and I have been almost as close as sisters for over thirty years. I had two but lost one to alcoholism. She's so hopelessly lost she probably doesn't even know. There was no helping her.



46. It's not easy for me to get close to people.



47. I seem to attract needy people, people who will suck me dry if I let them, and that causes me to eventually back off.



48. Changing the subject here. I've had an acquarium for over thirty years. Not the same acquarium. At one point I had a 55 gallon tank but downsized to 27 gallons. I love fish. They calm me. I can sit and watch them forever.



49. This is the first time since I became an adult that I don't have cats. When my last cat died at seventeen years, I decided I'd had enough of the hair. I love cats and don't understand people who don't.



50. Rob and I have always had dogs. When the girls were growing up we had big, outside dogs. The last big dog we had was Jessie, our golden retriever. When she died we got Chloe, an abandoned Maltese mix who lived for 14 years. When she died last summer we got six week old Chelsea, our Shis Tzu. She weighed sixteen ounces when we got her. My blog is named after her. Bet you thought it was the song, huh.



51. My favorite food is seafood.



52. I'm not fond of chocolate. For twenty years I actually disliked it altogether.



53. I'm also not fond of ice cream. I prefer sherbet or frozen yogurt. I do love good homemade ice cream though.



54. I love to cook but I don't like cooking dinner every night. I really love to cook for days and days for a holiday.



55. When I discover a new hobby, I jump in head first and go overboard.



56. I love counted cross stitch. I've made some beautiful wall hangings and my favorite is my "Bless This Home" angel. But I've also worked in stitches so small I have to use 400 power magnifying glasses.



57. I crochet. I taught myself when I was really young.



58. I recently bought a good book and plan to learn to knit this winter.



59. I've built four miniature houses (dollhouses) and a lot of the furnishings for them, including teenie handmade quilts.



60. I love to play Scrabble, especially with my mom or my sister.



61. My daughters and I play gin rummy. For hours and hours at a time.



62. Rob and I play pinochle with other couples when we can find couples who play.



63. When Rob and I first met, I never hesitated to jump on the back of his motorcycle and take off through the mountains with him. You couldn't pay me to do it now.



64. In my early twenties my hair was all one length down to my waist. For the last twenty years I've worn it as short as I can and still look female. My husband prefers my hair short. Says I have a pretty neck. He's a smart man.



65. When I need to I can look really pretty. But I never wear makeup or dress up unless I have to.



66. The only time I wear shoes is when I'm leaving the house. Summer and winter, I go barefoot. I wear flip flops when I can get away with it.



67. On any given day, you'll probably find me wearing capris and an Old Navy tee shirt.



68. I'm not now and except for high school have never been, a foo foo girl.



69. I don't wear any jewelry other than my wedding rings and the diamond studs Rob gave me which I only remove to shower. I rarely even wear my watch.



70. I can't stand to be hot. I'm completely miserable when I'm hot.



71. I don't like being cold but I prefer it to being hot.



72. I'm a miserable person to sleep with. I grind my teeth and move around all over the bed all night long, pushing poor Rob right to the edge.



73. I have night terrors and panic attacks during the night.



74. My doctor thinks these are caused by caring for my mother-in-law for seven years (she had cancer) and witnessing her death.



75. He's pretty sure my brother's suicide contributes to the problem, too.



76. That's why I take Tylenot PM every night. It helps me sleep. I actually took Ambien for almost a year but it's very weird stuff and causes some strange side affects the day after so I stopped.



77. I'm a perfectionist. A lot of jokes have been made on my blog and others about this but it's very true.



78. I'm sure that's why I enjoy hobbies that would drive some people nuts like building tiny houses and furnishing them and doing counted cross stitch so intricate it requires I wear magnifying glasses.



79. I'm happiest when everything around me is calm and serene. Big gatherings and chaos make me really uncomfortable.



80. I really am the woman who goes nuts decorating for Christmas and takes every last trace of it down the minute it's over because I need everything back in its place.



81. I am a total kid about Christmas. I start getting excited about it in October, right after Halloween.



82. Thanksgiving's my least favorite holiday. Have no idea why. It's just never been a big deal to me.



83. I absolutely love to give people gifts. I feel better giving a gift than anyone could ever feel receiving one.



84. If I had all the money in the world, I'd have a summer home on the Outer Banks.



85. And I'd have a winter home in the mountains, snow and all. I love snow.



86. One of my favorite things in the world is to be inside my home during a big snow storm with a good book and a cup of hot tea.



87. There are four people I've met through blogging who I'd go to great lengths to meet. I'd love to meet them in person.



88. I'm still working on my blogging style and attitude. I'm still not really comfortable with it and feel that I blow it often by putting the wrong post out there.



89. I enjoy it enough that I'm determined to get comfortable with it.



90. I'm perfectly content to stay inside my home without going anywhere at all for days and days on end. Then I have to get out!



91. I really like the home Rob and I have made. It's finally the way I always wanted it and that's probably why not leaving it very often makes me happy.



92. I'm not now and never have been the kind of woman who has to be involved in endless activities outside my home. I don't think I need therapy. It's just the way I am and I'm happy with it.



93. There's always the possibility I need therapy for something else. But I'm blissfully unaware of it.



94. I am a Christian. I was saved when I was fourteen. There are probably people who doubt that but I know who I am and I practice my faith in my own way. I'm honest about it. Lately I'm feeling a stronger urge to join a church and practice my faith with other people but I'm not there yet.



95. Somehow I stumbled through motherhood and did a really good job of raising my daughters. I know for sure they are both good young women and I'm very proud of them.



96. I never spanked or in any way laid a hand on my daughters. I was absolutely against any form of physical punishment and still believe it causes more harm than good. I truly believe if you hit a child you build rage in them. If you hit an adult, they'll fight back and a child cannot do that. Some of this I know from the way I was raised.



97. When our daughters approached the "difficult" years, puberty and their teens, Rob and I made it understood that there was absolutely nothing they could not talk to us about. The lines of communication were always open, they were not afraid of us and I'm convinced this is why neither one of them ever got into any serious trouble. They talked to us first and it worked.



98. They still do. I love that.



99. I've always believed the best thing that ever happened to me was becoming Rob's wife and Krissy and Mandy's mother. And it still is.



100. Being Cameron's Nana runs a real close second.

OW over at Overwhelmed with Joy has set up a Mr. Linky for everyone who has already done their 100th post or will be doing it soon. Run over there and link your post. It's fun (and sometimes a little surprising...and occasionally even shocking) to read 100 things about your favorite bloggers.