Eight Random Facts About Me Meme

Cereal Girl has tagged me for this fun little meme. The rules are

I am borrowing Cereal Girl clever idea to include pictures along with the random facts. I fully realize that these facts and pictures are going to reveal things about me that may be better left unsaid, but what's the fun in that!

1. I went back to college when I was 41 yrs old. I majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry. After graduating at the age of 44 I became a high school science teacher.2. I enjoy looking at and identifying flowers. While in college I fell in love with botany and, even though only one botany class was required, I took 5 botany classes. I love dissecting flowers and keying them and identifying their scientific names.

Here I am at Casa Loma in Toronto trying to figure out what this cute little yellow-flowering bush is. (It's not kosher to dissect blossoms at a local sight-seeing spot.)

3. I usually eat lunch everyday during the school year at McDonald's. They know my order by heart and recognize my voice at the drive-through. I always get a 3-pc chicken select with sweet and sour sauce, apple dippers instead of fries and a large diet coke. (This helps explain that jolly looking person I've turned into in the above picture!)

I even take pictures of McDonald's on my travels. I know, I know! There's simply no explaining it. The picture is the Rock & Roll McDonald's in Chicago. It doesn't look any bigger in the pictures, but it IS! Chicago's is 2-story with an escalator and with the parking, the 2 drive-thru lanes, the Rock & Roll bldg and store it takes up a whole city block. Across the street on one corner is the Hard Rock Cafe, on another corner is a famous Chicago hot dog place (I have a picture, but can't read the name) and down the street a block is the famous Gino's East Pizza, home of the famous Chicago Deep Dish Pizza.

Just one more note before I leave McDonald's - Our local McDonald's shut down on Friday and will be closed until Jan. 2008. They are tearing it down and building a new one its place. I hope they know that I'll be weaned by then!

Okay, one more note - I can't stand McDonald's burgers!

4. I hated traveling when I was a child/teen. My dad was in the army and we moved a lot when I was growing up. My memories include a station wagon; 7 children and 2 adults (one who was quite strict); no air-conditioner; homemade sandwiches by the side of the road; camping by the side of the road; visiting Vernal, Utah; having to sit in the back seat sandwiched between my 2 older brothers and 1 brother just 13-months younger (you know who had to keep her legs tight together, don't you?); having to sleep sitting up with your head bobbing around; and, worst of all, the hot, desert air blowing through the windows. I have hated the desert ever since.

When I remember these times together in the car the Norman Rockwell picture of the family on vacation always pops into my mind. We didn't have a dog, though. (Couldn't find a picture on the internet. ;-p

5. I love to travel since I've matured and since the advent of air-conditioners. When my children were young we couldn't afford to travel. When my husband got a better paying job and I started working, we decided we needed to make some trip memories before our oldest daughters left home. Our daughter's were 18, 17, 16, and 5, so we decided Disneyland would be something we could all enjoy. And did we ever! Except that 2nd daughter didn't want to go and we missed her terribly. The next year we went back to Disneyland with my youngest sister and her 2 children and fell in love with it all over again.

Since then there have been several trips - some with immediate family, some for National Science Conventions and some with extended family. Two really memorable trips were when my mother took her 7 children and their spouses to the Northwest in 2002 and the Northeast in 2004. We made some terrific family memories and saw so many interesting things. Of course, there was much gaiety and laughter. Candleman and I fell in love with the Northwest and returned in the summer of 2005 with our youngest daughter and another car with some of our extended family. Before going to the Northeast with Mom and family, hubby and I spent 2 weeks touring the coastline of Oregon. Needless to say, I love the Northwest. (I'm fitting many random facts into each one of these eight, aren't I. Oh, well! This summer Candleman and I took a 36 day vacation to the Northeast and Canada.

6. Still on the theme of travel - I love to travel with my husband and best friend, Candleman. One summer we drove to North Carolina to see our daughter who was stationed there with the Air Force. When we returned I scrapbooked the trip. A good friend and fellow scapbooker and teacher was looking through my album and gasped at how many roadside pictures I had taken. She asked how I got my husband to stop because her's would never stop. Wow, I felt so blessed. Candleman will even turn around and go back for a picture (most of the time.) Sometimes he'll even pose crazy for a picture like!

Another good thing about traveling with Candleman is we both like to stop at a nice restaurants occasionally and we like to eat food indigenous to the area. Many of our best memories deal with food.

And still another is that we both like listening to books on tape interspersed with music. This last trip we bought 5 cds with maritime/Celtic/folk songs that we listened to between some good books.

7. When I'm busy doing something, I look sooooooo mean and I hate it! I've always wanted my face to look happy and pleasant all the time. I've seen people like that. And even though I feel happy inside, my face still looks grouchy, unless I'm actually smiling.

8. I've been going to water aerobics for 2 1/2 weeks. Maybe I'll post a picture after several months to see if my upside-down smile has disappeared along with a few inches around all the major parts of interest. Speaking of which, after my first time at aerobics I came home soaking wet and my husband asked, "How did that Dolly Parton life jacket work for you?"