Tagged - I'm it!

1- Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.

2- People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post the rules.

3- At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.

4- Don't forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they've been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story.

BrownA tagged me and a few others have already done this, so I'm going to try and be creative. But I think everyone knows most everything about me that I'm willing to share, so I'm not sure how interesting this is going to be. Also, after reading everyone else's posts, I may not be terribly original. Here goes.

1. I tried out for College Jeopardy my sophomore year. Mom had sent in my name and I was chosen to attend the first round of tests. GrandpaH bought us plane tickets to fly from Lansing to Dayton, OH, for the tryouts, but we were going to be fogged in so Mom and I drove many frantic hours to get there in time. I sat at the same table as a gal from Oklahoma and I really hoped she made it, since it was a lot farther for her than it was for me. We all sat around banquet tables with our pencils and scoresheets, a piece of paper with 100 numbered blank lines. Alex Trebeck looked down on us from TV screens and reverse of the show, he asked 100 questions for which we wrote down the answers. I didn't make the cut but I have no regrets. Other than that was the weekend Michigan State won both the Big 10 championship in basketball and the CCHA championship in hockey. I would have been at both final games as a band member. Dammit. But the tourney games were pretty fun, so that makes up for it.

2. I know how to say 'one beer, please' in Czech after only hearing it once. From my super hot Czech ski instructor. When I was on a ski vacation with Asshole Ex-Boyfriend and his family in Snowmass, CO. As is the wont of a controlling/manipulative lover, jealousy is never far away. After his mother and sister helped me tease him with how hot my ski instructor was (AEB said I wasn't good enough a skier to ski with him), he decided he needed to go with me to my starting point one morning and czech (ha) this guy out for himself. We stood there for awhile until AEB needed to ski down to meet his controlling/manipulative father (apple didn't fall far from THAT tree). As soon as he left, in skied Dalibar. Dalibar Sosna. Sigh. Oh - and 'Devno pivo, proseem!'

3. Random women come up to me and comment on my perfect skin. Then they lean in for a close inspection. This is quite unsettling, even though it's a compliment that I don't believe I deserve. I have freckles and my own share of zits - usually smack dab between my eyes. Anyway, now I think I'm getting neurotic about my complexion where before I never gave it much thought. (Don't hate me, Cranky!) 

4. I suck at doing laundry. I can't get stains out of anything to save my life. I'm scared of using bleach in fear of ruining everything I own. Both my mother and grandmother have degrees in home economics and I am a homemaker failure.

5. Don't tell him, but when then-hubby and I were offered stray-kitten Elvis, I didn't want a cat. Of course, I loved him immediately and now don't even want to think about not having him around.

6. I had three near-death/dismemberment experiences on the farm that I don't even remember. 1 - swinging on a steel gate that broke off, banging head on concrete and only needing stitches on my chin. 2. getting caught in the main barn's gutter cleaner chain and close to getting ripped through the exterior opening before being noticed (I was a quiet child, believe it or not, and didn't want to yell and draw attention to myself). 3. playing with my toy tractor in the main barn doorway, sitting on the ledge next to the furnace fan used to cool off the barn. Luckily, Dad saw me lean over just as my hair was starting to go into the fan and unplugged it just before I went in.

7. I started riding rodeo when I was in my 20's just because. I hung up my spurs in 2004 when I finally won for team calf roping. Calf roping was the hardest and scariest thing I've ever tried to do.

8. I stopped taking naps around the age of two. Mom said it was too much trouble to get me to nap in the afternoon because the boys were crawling all over us when she was rocking me and I was quite alert. Probably a survival tactic on my part. She said I was never grumpy without it, so she never bothered making me take one. Poor MomH, Steve and Ray would have been four and two when I arrived. So she had her hands full. To this day I can't nap unless I'm sick or sleep deprived. Naps make me groggy and ill otherwise. I also lie there and think about all the other things I should be doing.

I think a lot of other people have already done this, but I'd like to see what Farfaraway, Leeeeeanda, Aubrey and the Captain have to say for themselves.