9 Pointless & Strange Things to Know About Me

*Because I'm an ego maniac...and I'm severely lacking in post ideas this week.  And I'm still Thanksgiving comatose.

1.)  I grew up on a farm.  In the middle of nowhere, in northern Ohio.  My parents decided to leave the city and move to Polk, Ohio when I was about 5 years old.  They bought a small farm with little to no previous farming experience while they both had full-time jobs (which they kept), each an hours' drive away.  I don't know what they were thinking, but I'm glad they temporarily lost their minds because it was the best experience ever.  We lived on the farm until I was about 12 years old.  We raised cows, pigs and chicken to supply our household with meat and eggs, and also to sell.  We had a small pond with fish and ducks, and often cute baby ducklings.  We had an old horse that I would ride on the weekends named Choe ( I didn't name him).  I helped bottle feed calves, mucked the horse stall, fed the barn cats my leftover milk from my morning cereal, learned about taking animals to slaughter, picked wildflowers for my mom, played with the Amish kids down the street, and ate our farm-raised, hormone free eggs and meat.  The farm taught me responsibility and the merit of hard work, and our acres of land let me explore and be as creative as I wished.    I wouldn't trade those years for anything.

2.)  Despite growing up on a farm, among a variety of animals, I'm kind of afraid of A LOT of animals.  Namely, I'm afraid of being bitten by them.  Some of these fears make sense.  Like I was bitten by an elderly poodle when I was little, therefore I'm wary about putting my hand near an unknown dog's mouth.  But most of the fears are completely irrational.  Squirrels, rabits, raccoons, pigs, birds, rats, snakes, mice, etc.  I'm afraid they are all out to bite me.  I think the only animals on the farm that I wasn't worried about biting me were the cows and the ducks.  And it's no surprise that they were my favorites.

3.)  I started watching horror movies way before a person should (i.e. when I was a kid).  No, I can't remember exactly when I saw my first scary movie or what it was.  But if I had to guess on how old I was I'd say age 8.  Maybe 9?  Yeah.  Chalk it up to having a Stephen King fan for a mother.  You name it, I saw it well before I was 12.  Pet Sematary, The Stand, Carrie, The Shining, IT, Misery...  And I love them all!  I love the fact that my mother let me watch all of these scary, violent films, and I attribute it to why my sister and I have such a deep love for the horror genre.  And I blame it for my still being a little bit afraid of the dark.  Wait, what!?  I'm not afraid of the dark, weirdo!  26 year olds aren't afraid of the dark...you must have read that incorrectly!  Moving on...

4.) My biggest pet peeve is when people leave the toilet lid up.  Not the toilet seat (although I don't like that either), the toilet lid.  Growing up, my mom and I shared a bathroom and my dad had his own.  Therefore the toilet lid was always put down after use.  There's something about knowing that someone has recently used the toilet that kind of creeps me out!

5.)  My first word was Peaches...the name of our Great Dane when I was a baby.

6.)  I have what the quacks refer to as social anxiety.  The peoples, they scare me.  So I'm not super crazy about big crowds or meeting new people.  Christmas parties/weddings/family reunions/etc tend to freak me out, unless I'm intoxicated!  Hell, I was practically a hermit when I was in college.  I got it bad.  For example, sometimes I'm scared to take pictures (you know, photograph things with my lovely Nikon) if there are too many people around.  I'm trying to work on it, but most of the time I'm not very successful!

7.)  I desperately want to get a tattoo of the Cheese-man on my foot!  Hello, birthday present idea...if you happen to need one for me!

8.)  I have a thing for rivers and streams.  I don't know what it is about flowing water...but I love it!  Just ask my HLP, I made her stop at practically every stream in Rocky Mountain National Park so I could take a picture.

9.) I could eat pizza probably every other day, and that's not an exaggeration.  The only other person I know who can eat pizza as often as I can is my dear HLP, Amanda.