ciento

it's taken me forever (a month shy of 2 years) to reach the 100th post mark.
i bet bloggers aren't even doing this anymore, but since i've had a list started for awhile ---i knew it would take me forever to get to 100--- i can't waste it.
besides, i haven't posted in awhile. and this'll be something (relatively) easy.

so now, in no particular oder, i bore you with:
100 things about me...

1. i was born in lexington hospital; ours was room 233, which was my address growing up as well.
2. i am the youngest of 13 kids.
3. i am afraid of fire, bugs, and fear.
4. roly-polys are just fine though.
5. i have striped eyelashes
6. i have a small hole on the side of my left knee.
7. i think that hole used to be a wart. i was plagued with them when i was little.
8. i am a procrastinator, much to The Mr.'s chagrin.
9. but i always arrive on time or early.
10. i am extremely unobservant, both physically & emotionally.
11. which makes me the least introspective person ever.
12. i want to change that.
13. when i was 3, i was hospitalized for lazy-eye corrective surgery.
14. it wasn't until i was in the 6th grade that i found out that i did, in fact, have surgery. all i remember is the popsicle stick & eyepatch therapy. and dr. graham.
15. i also was hospitalized at age 4 for pneumonia.
16. i've only struck one match in my life. i was 4. and yes, unsupervised. smart like i am, it scared me when it burned me, so i threw it down. behind the couch. idiot! (see #3)
17. i've been an aunt since i was 4.
18. i remember the exact date & mortifying moment when in 8th grade i started my period. (sorry!)
19. i truly was sweet 16 & never kissed. until a month later, with my "1st love"
20. i still get excited for santa claus!
21. but The Mr. is the best gift-giver ever. he gets me things i didn't even know i wanted (see #10)
22. the only gift i ever gave a teacher was a box of chocolate-covered cherries.
23. chip rhoden challenged me in the 8th grade to say my alphabet backwards.
24. i succeeded on the first try, and now it's my one talent.
25. plus naming my family fast.
26. i cure hiccups by drinking upside down from the opposite side of the glass. (take a minute to picture/practice that. really.)
27. in the one grad class i took, i once wrote a paper about not being able to write that paper.
28. i got an A on that paper.
29. in undergrad, i was constantly criticized for writing like i talk. maybe i should've invented the blog?
30. in college, i took english (and history) like 4 times. kept dropping the classes.
31. i learned more about history in my AAH class.--- art & architectural history.
32. one of my favorite classes.
33. another was ballroom dancing. i got an A.
34. i snap funny. each hand snaps a different way.
35. i love musicals.
36. i've never broken a bone
37. but i got 27 stitches in my face.
38. i love to play all kinds of board/card/word games.
39. i participated in Odyssey of the Mind. twice.
40. it wasn't until i was in college that i learned which was the "right" side of the road.
41. i made an ass of myself on my 1st grade field trip.
42. i abhor the feeling of strands of wet hair on my hands. i have to spend the time to get each strand off of me before i can keep shampooing.
43. i lost a ton of hair (for about 4mos) after i had littlebean. showers took way too long!
44. i got called to the principal's office once. in 6th grade. b/c someone found a dollar that was dropped that i guess i wrote my name on. so he lectured me on writing on government property/vandalism--- something of that sort.
45. i didn't get caught for accidentally skipping a class in high school.
46. i love to travel!
47. i'm the pickiest eater ever
48. and have never tried pizza.
49. chicken paprikas (poppycosh) gives me the most google hits.
50. maybe i'll post the recipe one day!
51. i have 2 cats- yiminy & doh
52. i was in high school marching band, & call me a geek, but it was the best thing i could've ever done!
53. we went to national championships & got 9th in the nation my SR year.
54. i'm an extremely vivid dreamer.
55. i can roll my tongue into a hotdog.
56. i cannot for the life of me roll my r's in spanish.
57. i took spanish for like 5 years.
58. no hablo espanol.
59. i'm generally good at identifying famous voices.
60. i am not a confident person.
61. nor am i athletic.
62. some of my cousins- on a few occasions- have paid me to shuttup.
63. so one summer i made $27.
64. i have an uncle who is a priest (monsignor) helping the poor in Brazil.
65. on many occasions the potter family has had mass conducted in our living room (when my uncle and another priest friend would come visit).
66. we buried my mom on my 32nd birthday, after having lost her 5 days earlier on my sister's birthday.
67. i met dominic monaghan in LAX.
68. The Mr. advised me not to. but then was glad i did.
69. i love bendy straws.
70. i've never been stung by a bee.
71. nor had a cavity.
72. i used to do scherenschnitte.
73. i also collected thimbles for awhile.
74. the first movie i remember seeing in the theatre was Grease for my 5th birthday. (but i could be wrong about when. b/c the dates don't add up)
75. i thought my 5th birthday was going to be my "magic birthday"
76. i got chickenpox when i was 4. i caught them from my neighbor- anique manhaut (sp??)
77. i graduated from Clemson University.
78. that's where i met The Mr.
79. i changed majors my sophomore year intending to become a doctor.
80. that pissed my dad off.
81. i ended up changing back; i couldn't handle telling people their loved ones are going to die.
82. i taught 1st grade for 7 years.
83. then i worked for The American Cancer Society.
84. i was pregnant the entire time i worked there; now i'm at home.
85. jovie is the 30th grandkid to be born on my side of the family.
86. she's the first on my husband's.
87. i've been with my husband almost 15 years
88. i never thought he could surprise me with a proposal.
89. i was wrong.
90. we've been married almost 7.
91. there have been at least 3 people whose wedding was the last contact we had of them.
92. i am still in contact with everyone who was in ours.
93. i made up a little ditty called "little bean"
94. i still sing it to her.
95. she doesn't notice/remember/care.
96. my wedding day sucked in quite a few ways.
97. i usually pull for USC gamecocks in football..... except when they play UGA or Clemson.
98. our honeymoon was the best days/vacation i can remember.
99. there are more random bits of me here & here. i tried not to repeat too much.
100. looking back at this list reminds me of what a huge DORK i am.

my first meme

i was tagged by Pregnantly Plump to do a 7 random things about me meme.
i'm of course s'posed to pass it on, but i don't have anyone to tag. soooooo--- if you'd like to share some randomness with me, i'd love to find out 'boutcha.

a year ago, i did my first thursday13 and gave some facts about myself.
here's a little bit more of my randomness:

1. i sucked my thumb till i was 7. that was my first bad habit. my sis did everything she could to get me to stop, including whacking me w/ a curtain rod. didn't work. did i say i was SEVEN????
2. i was unable to get braces for my overbite. when i was in college, i looked into it before my insurance ended w/ my parents. however, turns out my lower jaw is too small or something. in order for braces to work, they were going to have to break my jaw & wire it shut for SIX WEEKS. nevermind i wouldn't've enjoyed that torture, i was about to student teach. obv not an option.
3. i used to have great posture. especially while eating. didja catch that i said "used to"?
4. The Mr.'s parents complimented my posture. as well as a random waiter one time. i have this random 'curse' that if i've received compliments for something, that particular "talent" comes to a halt. it all goes awry. never understood that about me. my singing voice, my handwriting, my hair, my hands... none of that is compliment-worthy anymore. ???
5. my 2nd bad habit: i was a horrible nail biter. constantly. i had pretty nails 4x in my life. 2 of those times were fake. the first time i grew them out was for my wedding 6 yrs ago. and i stopped biting them after i got pregnant. once they got strong, i never wanted to bite them again.
6. my first boyfriend was in 8th grade to a guy whose cousin i knew in selma, al in the 7th grade. (small world)
7. my first date was in 9th grade & we were together for 2mos,2wks & 2 days.

ummmmmm, i promise- i'm not nearly as pathetic as i sound!

what's in a name?

would i have been just as sweet?............

after starting a comment over after reading this post, i thought:
sure! i had nothing to write about today... i'll go ahead and continue my story.

the post was about what we would've been named, had we been the other sex. also if anyone regrets their child's name, or if anyone used the same "name pool" for the second (+) children.

so i began by saying had i been a boy, i would've been christopher michael.
growing up i loved that name. now i realize how little fanfare there was in the 70's regarding naming children than present day.
i still love the classic-ness of that name, though & was convinced as a child i would have twins- a boy and a girl. i would name them christopher michael, and kristin michelle. ha!
well, i don't have twins, and i grew up.

i have more to say about naming, though. (me? more to say?? surely you jest!)

according to my sis' legend, i was going to be kelly, until i was born and she convinced my dad to name me michelle. (not sure if that had anything to do w/ michael or not). i'm glad.

and even still, i was intended to be michele (which i do NOT prefer!). i spent my whole year of kindergarten declaring "no! it's one L". for some reason, my mom needed my birth certificate for first grade. we happened to notice, 5 years too late, that my name was indeed michelle. apparently, they mispelled it on the birth certificate. sooooooooo i had to change my own name, and recorrect teachers who had learned the old correct spelling and tell them: oops.

i like michelle soooooo much better. i think it looks better. and until i got married i had double letters in each of my names. [and my last name is pretty odd, and you would expect it to have double letters- but it doesn't. HEY! should we go check someone's birth certificate????]
michele also carries with it a bad connotation in our family.

in college, i was mpotter. that's how i met The Mr. that's why i let it stick. & it got shortened to m by a select few.
in fact, one summer, The Mr.'s best friend was asked what the m stood for. and after a stutter, he declared emily.

so, i'm usually michelle. sometimes mpotter. for my family & some close friends, chelle. the occasional m (usually when i'm being lazy). and i spent 7 years as Mrs. ____

what's in a name -indeed!

come knockin tonight

well, y'all- it's halloween. so traditionally, there will be lotsa door knockin' tonight.
but, it's a little known fact that i got from anglophile football fanatic that today is also "knock knock day"

this one cracks me up, and it's prob'ly so old, but i had never heard it before The Mr. & it's the one i always start with:
knock knock.......................
dishes..............................
dishes mpotter- will ya let me in?

this is the other one that keeps me laughing. my now 16, then 3 year old niece shared this bit of gold:
knock knock...........................
little lady.............................
i didn't know you could yodel!

i could try to think of a few more, but AH. i gotta get to work soon. wish me luck.
and please feel free to play along.
i love knock knock jokes!!!

so THIS is what i need...

while perusing blogs in another fit of insomnia, i came across one i read daily (appropo, thus the name), and she had a clever post that i thought i'd try:

apparently, if you google 'your name' needs, you'll come up w/ a list that may or may not be funny/helpful/true.

here's some interesting tidbits about apparently, what i need....

m Needs Your Help for what, exactly? i don't know, but yes... i can always use help

m needs a family that will be patient, consistent, kind, loving hmmm, this sounds like a whole 'nother blog post.

m needs a good man to care for her and tend to her as she deserves DONE. he even tends to me when i don't deserve....

m needs to just shut up hey! who put this one in here???? one of my cousins, no doubt, as i used to get paid to shut up!

m needs to take photography and graphics classes i have actually been told this before. maybe i should look into it.

so, ha. that was kinda fun. maybe you should try it. (tho i have the feeling i'm behind the times and you already have!)

The Thursday Thirteen

i stumbled across this wonderful idea when i was reading cheeky lotus. of course, it resonated with me b/c of the magic number. i always perk up when i notice the number, and knew that once i started this blog i was set for thursdays... at least until i run out of ideas.

so, without further ado, i present to you:
although i think alllllll of my millions of readers know me in person, i will attempt to offer:

13 things you may be surprised to learn about me:

1. i have never tasted pizza (that's for the ONE person who may happen to stumble on this blog)
2. i have never flown a kite
3. i learned to ride a bike on my own when i was in the 3rd grade- never having training wheels
4. i always wanted peppery freckles on my face (now i have rosacea instead) and because of that, i love every freckle i do have in random places
5. i once testified in divorce court for the lady i babysat for
6. i had a terrifying experience while babysitting my newborn nephew jordan... his head snapped and i thought he'd be damaged when he threw a colic fit and i didn't hold him quite perfectly.
7. (as mom would say): i'm ascared of being ascared
8. i almost consider my picky eating a handicap
9. i save all my tivoed episodes of curious george
10. i have always been a good speller (recently i've been slipping)--- i remember 3 challenge words in 2nd grade that i got right: dictionary, encyclopedia, cousin
11. earlier this year The Mr. & i were invited to a sweet 16 birthday party
12. The Mr. & i have been together for 13 years
13. even tho i'm not in love w/ this large family of mine, i'm glad i am #13. it gives me one interesting thing to hang onto. i would absolutely find nothing amazing in the same situation, had i been, oh- i dunno- dianne. (#5)

[that was harder to do than i expected]