25 things about me (i was tagged)

1. I have lived in three countries. (The USA, Holland, Germany)
2. I have lived in six of the United States. (Minnesota, South Dakota, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri)
3. I have lived in twenty residences in sixteen cities. (Minneapolis, Brookings, Altamont, Guilderland, Amsterdam, Niederndorf, Holzen, Richfield, Wheaton, Eagan, Burnsville, Plymouth, Lebanon, Xenia, Kansas City, Rochester)
4. By the time I graduated from high school, I'd attended ten schools.
5. One of those schools was homeschool in Amsterdam, so maybe that doesn't count.
6. One of those schools was a German school and I didn't know German, so maybe that should count double or triple.
7. The German school made me go back a grade, so although I graduated in high school 1990, I originally was in the class of 1989.
8. I started kindergarten when I was four, with a late October birthday well after the cutoff, so I really should have started out in the class of 1990 in the first place.
9. I was the editor of both my high school and college yearbooks and thoroughly enjoyed it. I did not seek the editor position in either high school or college, but was asked to consider it. Yearbook ended up being a refuge for me. That's probably good and bad.
10. I learned to drive on a VW diesel van, stick shift, in Germany on the farmer's roads and on the Autobahn. Maybe that's why I have a lead foot and a need for speed.
11. Despite my need to go fast, I got my first and only speeding ticket when I was thirty-four.
12. I get red blotches on my neck and chest when I speak in front of a group of people. Maybe this is why I do not like public speaking. Or maybe it's because I have hyperventilated when speaking in front of people. Or maybe it's because I feel like I'm tripping over my words. In any case, I do not like public speaking.
13. I like writing. Maybe I should write in front of people.
14. I learned to downhill ski in the Swiss Alps.
15. I have never water skiied.
16. I downed a jar of pickled pigs feet so my team could win a video scavenger hunt when I was an adult leader at a high school church retreat. (We won.)
17. I also downed the rest of the sleeve of saltines and 2L of Sprite that my team couldn't finish when I was a camp counselor one summer so that my team could win. (We won.)
18. I am pretty competitive.
19. I brought two of my three kids into the world without pain relief medication. Not because I didn't want it, necessarily, but because they came out so fast. One of my kids was delivered by the nurse because the doctor didn't get there in time.
20. All three of my kids were delivered by different doctors in different hospitals in different cities.
21. When I was born, the doctor gave me a score of 1 on the Apgar test. My mom didn't know she'd had a girl except that the doctor's were saying "she" and "her" to each other while working on me.
22. I enjoy watching sports and will sometimes watch baseball games or SportsCenter even when JD's not around.
23. I love reading. If I'm reading a really good novel, my family may not get fed or get clean underwear until the book is done because of my reading addiction.
24. I am an introvert and need to have quiet time to rejeuvenate.
25. If money were no option and I had to choose between having material possessions or traveling, I would choose travelling.