1. I was a high school English teacher.
2. I'd been one for 25 years.
3. I loved it.
4. I am married to a hillbilly from West Virginia.
5. We met online.
6. I love him like crazy.

7. We have a nice bungalow with a detached double garage.
8. I drive a 1994 Ford Escort. Update: Not any more, I don't. I now have a gorgeous black 2004 PT Cruiser. I call it my Bonnie and Clyde car and I am in total lust with it.
9. We also own a 2000 Dodge Dakota 4-wheel drive pickup truck, which my husband drives. Update: Traded in the 2000 for a 2005 lava red Dakota with back doors that open, and lots of chrome. Sure is purty.
10. I have three cats, one of which my husband imported with him from West Virginia.
11. I am a natural blonde.
12. I weigh too much. Update: not anymore, since I went back on the cancer diet....
13. I love to golf.
14. I love to flower garden.
15. I love to fish.
16. I bait my own hook.
17. I love chocolate.
18. I'm a very good cook.
19. I also bake very well.
20. I am a parking GODDESS; I always find great parking spots, very easily.
21. My ethnic background is Dutch, but I was born in Canada - the only one in my immediate family who was.
22. I have lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba all my life.
23. I hate the climate here. Hate. It.
24. I can speak a fair amount of Dutch, even though I never do. I can also read it and write it, although I don't any more since my aunt and uncle in Holland, with whom I used to correspond, both passed away. Update: Thanks to my blogfriend, Herman, who resides in Holland, I am now brushin up on my ability to communicate in Dutch.
25. I took Latin in grade 9 and still remember quite a bit.
26. I am a practicing Christian.
27. I'm funny. Just ask me - I really crack me up.
28. I am a cancer survivor.
29. I have broken a finger and a leg.
30. I have had the following removed surgically: my tonsils, four wisdom teeth, four pre-molars, knee cartilage, my right kneecap, a kidney stone (it was lasered, actually), an ovarian cyst, a fallopian tube, and my left kidney. So how come with all this stuff missin, I weigh MORE?
31. I have O positive blood.
32. I have donated blood 49 times.
33. I am part of the international bone marrow registry as a potential donor.
34. I have osteoarthritis. In order to sleep at all, I have to have ice packs on my knees at night.
35. I was clinically depressed at one time and on Wellbutrin for 6 ½ years, but I'm doing great now with no meds. Have been for about 8 years.
36. I laugh hysterically whenever I see penguins. Oh, I'm okay when they're standin still, but as soon as they start moving, I'm toast.

37. I have done dozens and dozens of beautiful cross-stitch pictures - mostly of animals and nature scenes.
38. I used to belong to two craft guilds, and sold my wares. My trademark item was my bean bag dolls, but I also made clothed muslin rabbits and other stuff.
39. I make beeswax candles.
40. I love candles. I burn them all the time.
41. I like almost every kind of music.
42. I type 95 words per minute.
43. I have a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English and Philosophy, and a minor in History.
44. I also have an Education Certificate in Secondary Teaching.
45. I have taught at 6 different schools.
46. I really love teenagers and relate to them well.
47. I used to swear a lot, but now I hardly ever do.
48. When I drive, I never speed.
49. Unlike most drivers in my city, I am a courteous and cautious driver. Just don't tick me off or get in my way.
50. I once saved a boyfriend's life by using first aid following a severe car crash that drove us over a cliff into a swamp.
51. I was married for almost 18 years, divorced for 5, and now I have been remarried for 5.
52. I am extremely organized, to the point of OCD. My spices are alphabetized. Go ahead and laugh, but I always know where my oregano is: right between the nutmeg and the paprika.
53. I used to volunteer with the Humane Society. Once a month I would choose one of the cats in the shelter and take it to a nursing home to visit with the residents.
54. My two boy cats were both adopted from the Humane Society.
55. The tabby was my first pet visitor.

56. I have an astigmatism and have been wearing eyeglasses since I was 10.
57. I was born in 1954.
58. Because of #57, I now must wear bifocals. It also, for some reason, prevents me from being able to see the hidden images in those 3D pictures, which drives me nuts.
59. At the age of 28, I got braces.
60. I have great teeth. They are very white.
61. I love John Irving's books.
62. I'm a big fan of Anthony Hopkins.
63. When I look directly at the sun or at bright lighting, I sneeze.
64. I love sushi.

65. I love Vietnamese food.
66. I love roti.
67. I don't have a middle name.
68. I'm the youngest in my family.
69. I have three brothers and one sister.
70. My dad passed away 8 years ago shortly after his 90th birthday. My mom just turned 91.
71. I make my own wine. White wine.
72. I like to watch bull riding.
73. I also like to watch boxing.
74. I have never been pregnant.
75. My second toe is my longest one.
76. I am 5 foot 3 ½ inches. I used to be 5 foot 4 but I like hot showers.
77. I coached high school volleyball for 11 years, and I have a level 2 national certification.
78. I can swim backwards faster than forwards.
79. My favourite colour is green.
80. My eyes are an indefinable colour: sort of gray-green with yellow flecks.
81. I am a nature lover and an animal lover.
82. Bats freak me out. Gad, they're ugly.
83. All I have to do is think about rain and I get goosebumps.
84. I do not like meetings, and tend to misbehave at them.
85. I wear 4 rings, 2 bracelets, 2 necklaces, 3 wristbands (Livestrong, breast cancer and Humane Society), a watch and earrings, every single day. In the summer I also wear a gold toe ring.
86. I have poor reading comprehension.
87. A little over two years after our elopement, my husband and I had a church wedding on Jan. 10, 2004.
88. I hold grudges. Not one of my best traits. I'm working on it.
89. I have had a poem published. It was about my reaction to an online friend who died of lung cancer.
90. I've lost too many friends to cancer.
91. I love yellow flowers. They're so happy.

92. My dream for retirement was to move to a rural area in a warmer part of Canada, and build a log home. That's a dream Curtis and I shared.
93. I would love to have a little greenhouse so I can start plants from seeds. I'd wear garden gloves, a gardening apron and a funny hat.
94. I'd like to try to get a few stories published when I retire. UPDATE: I have now had a story published ("Ah, Spring", originally posted on this blog as "You Say Tomato, I Say Screw It") in the May issue of a Calgary magazine called Our World, for which I was paid; and it looks like there will be more printed in the coming months. Woo hoo!

UPDATE TO UPDATE: I have had fourteen more stories published in the June, July, August, September, October, November, (no issue published December), January, February, March,April, June, July, August and September issues: "Aquatorture," "Finding the Keys," "Hot and Bothered," "Foreplay," a self-edited version of "Calendar Art," "Why I'm Taking up Bingo as My Winter Sport," "What's In a Name," "Fantasy Nightmare on Ice," "Why Cats Need Bungee Cords," "Body Types," "Keep Your Phentex Dry," "The Plane Truth, "Tijuana Taxi" and "Apologies" (all of which you can find if you dig through my archives). It appears that I am now a regular feature. You can say you knew me when.
95. I like folding freshly laundered clothes and linen. The smell and orderliness of it appeals to me.
96. My favourite gum is Peach Extra.
97. Wine makes me irresponsible.
98. I am very good at word puzzles. I keep telling Curtis he has to get me on Wheel of Fortune, cuz the only thing that would keep me from winning loads is a series of unlucky spins.
99. I love wolves.
100. If I could, I'd adopt every homeless cat in the world.

And that's me.