***cross posted at my food blog, Eating Back to Good!***

I’ve seen a bunch of people do this “100 Random Things” post, and, even though no one’s tagged me, in an outrageous display of narcissism, I’ve decided to do one of my own volition.  Actually, I think that I’m relatively boring, so I want to see if I can even come up with 100 interesting things about me.  Read on…probably for more information than you bargained for:

1. I never missed a day of school, from Kindergarten until I graduated high school.  I was given a leather portfolio when I graduated as an award from the Charlotte-Meck school system.  I have used it for every job interview I ever had.
2. I am a knuckle-cracker, neck-popper…well, all joints that can be popped, basically.
3. I am cat-obsessed.  I’ve only had three in my whole life:  Burgie, who died when I was four, Puss, who we got when I was 7 and died when I was 26, and Shelli, who’s 3.
4. I am shy.
5. I have trouble making friends because of this.
6. I lost all of my close friends in a very unfortunate and dramatic fight in 2002.
7. I have just recently gotten back to where I can have friends who are girls again.
8. I am fiercely loyal to my best friends.
9. I also simultaneously worry that they will decide to quit being my friends.
10. I am probably a little socially awkward because I’m pretty dorky.
11. I have learned to embrace this over the years.
12. I can move my eyes independently of each other.
13. I haven’t felt comfortable in my own skin since I was in college.
14. I could go back and do my undergrad years all over again.
15. I got married 11/23/2002.
16. Mr. PhD and I graduated from college in 2003.
17. I lived in Waco, TX from 8/03 to 6/04
18. I met Jessica Simpson while there because I sold her grandmother two recliners (I worked in furniture sales).
19. At my skinniest, I was 5’3″ and 115 pounds.  Because of my frame, it was much too small.
20. I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder and PTSD (it’s not just for people in war zones, folks).
21. Because of this, I have terrible-looking fingernails and scars from picking at myself (forms of self-mutilation).
22. I spent the entire years of 2005-2006 convinced that I was dying of terminal cancer and didn’t know it.  I literally asked Mr. PhD at least fifty times a day if he thought I had cancer.
23. I’ve had these problems at least since I was 10 (when the PTSD started), yet I did not seek any treatment until 6/08.
24. Thanks to a very insightful psychiatrist, medication, and cognitive therapy, I am doing much better these days.
25. I think poop is really funny.
26. I also think farting is really funny.
27. I am an exceptional producer of the latter, much to Mr. PhD’s chagrin.
28. I only fart in front of my closest friends, but when I do, I’m loud and proud!
29. I LOVE to read…mostly nonfiction, but I get plenty of fiction in because…
30. I’m working on a M.A. in English, focusing on Multicultural/transnational literature
31. I’m 1/16th Cherokee on each side of my family.
32. I love NC.  Like, seriously.  Like, I lived in TX, so I learned about state pride.  Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t pride in their state, especially since several people didn’t even know what coast North Carolina was on.  AND, it was usually just referred to as “Carolina,” because they couldn’t recall if there was a North/South or not.
33. I have a BA in Spanish and in English.  Multicultural Lit was a good fit for that combo.
34. I spent two weeks teaching 12th grade English.  It was too overwhelming and I washed out.  Fortunately, it must not have been just me, because the girl they hired after me quit after a semester and they tried to get me to come back.
35. I work with people I really love and who I consider to be friends.  It took us time to get there, though. 
36. I watch way too much TRUtv.
37. Mr. PhD and I got together because he showed up at my job and told me to dump my boyfriend of 3 years.  I did.  We were engaged 8 weeks later and married 11 months after that.
38. I love dogs, especially big ones, but hate it when they drool and hate being licked by them (they have a weird tongue texture).
39. I love it when Shelli tries to “groom” me (cats have drier, sandpapery tongues).
40. I have recently discovered a love for birds of prey.
41. Ok, I really love all animals.  Except spiders.
42. I could eat Asian food just about every day.
43. The off days would be a rotation of Mexican and Italian food.
44. The above two items probably explain why I have so much gas.
45. I’m one of those people who really does LOVE water.  Plain ol’ water.  No flavors, no high-class bottles, just good old tap water with some ice.
46. I love camping.  Except for spiders.
47. Mr. PhD and I sleep on a double bed (nope, not even a queen bed).  I get 1/3, he gets 1/3, and Shelli gets 1/3 because she has to sleep perpendicular to me.
48. I let Shelli drink out of my glass of water.  And then I drink after her.  I don’t know if she’s just licked her butt or not, but it hasn’t killed me yet.  I did the same thing with Puss when she was alive.
49. I hate folding laundry.  We currently have a 4-foot-high pile of clean laundry in the laundry room that we dig through looking for underwear every day.
50. I hatehatehatehatehate change and need routines to feel comfortable.
51. I also need lots of down time and can’t handle a busy schedule.  It starts to overwhelm me.
52. I don’t get much downtime.
53. I am a Christian. 
54. I love to sing and have been on a couple of cds.
55. I was in a band for two years and we did some local festivals.
56. I play the flute, piano, and guitar, but none very well anymore.
57. I collect Snoopys.  Since I work in Insurance, the freebies from MetLife ROCK.
58. I collect Breyer model horses.
59. I used to blog about Frugal Living.  But we’re not frugal enough right now.  I’m working to change that.  Rapidly.
60. I’ve dealt with bullies throughout my life, even as an adult (although they masquerade as friends as you get older).  I kicked the last bully out of my life in early 2007.
61. I have two best girlfriends and two best guy friends.
62. My mom and dad are my bestest, bestest friends, though.
63. I am a firm believer in our Second Amendment Rights, and I will always stand up politically to protect them.  I believe that education is the best preventer of accidental gunshot deaths, not taking away the individual right to bear arms.
64. Politically, I’m more Libertarian than anything, I think.
65. I have a salty (foul) mouth.  I am working to remedy this.
66. Sometimes I have a conversation between Shelli and myself, and I do both parts.
67. Sometimes Joey has a conversation with Shelli, and I’m doing Shelli’s part.
68. My most favorite band ever is The Monkees.  As evidenced by the fact that I got them permanently inked on my body.
69. My favorite genre of music is classic rock.
70. I believed in Santa until I was 10 because my great uncle was the “Mall Santa” in Spartanburg, SC, and he knew my name, so I thought he was “the real Santa.”  When he died, it was Christmas Eve.  Weird, eh?
71. I’m a smart-ass.  My parents didn’t like this when I was a kid, but they find it pretty entertaining now.
72. I was deathly afraid of the dentist for YEARS, despite the fact that I’ve never had a cavity.  The meds helped with that a lot.
73. I’ve had a kidney stone (last September).  It was the worst pain of my life.  Women have told me that childbirth is easier.
74. I long to be one of those off-the-grid prepper-type people who lives in a relatively isolated area in the NC mountains.
75. Sherman Alexie, Stephen King, and Barbara Kingsolver are my favorite authors.
76. I want to be a writer.
77. I want to teach college.
78. I have trouble bench-pressing just the bar.  I can’t imagine adding weights to it right now.
79. I hate fooling with makeup.  I wear it when I have to.
80. I never thought that I’d be “the funny, fat girl.”
81. I am insanely lazy.  And I feel guilty for it.
82. I think I want to have kids, but I don’t know for sure.
83. I also think I want to get my PhD, but I don’t know for sure.
84. My favorite TV show of all time is Mystery Science Theater 3000. 
85. After that, it’s M*A*S*H, NCIS, and Criminal Minds.
86. I watch waaay too much tv.
87. I am a packrat.  So is my husband.
88. As a result, our house is very cluttered.
89. I long to be a minimalist, but I’m too sentimental.
90. I still have a small collection of very significant stuffed animals from my childhood.
91. Between me and Mr. PhD, we probably have a couple thousand books in the house.  And not nearly enough bookshelves.  There are books stacked on the floor, on top of bookshelves, on the entertainment center, in our nightstands, on our nightstands…well, you get the picture.
92. I want to please people and I want people to like me, which leads me to agree to do things I don’t really feel like doing.
93. I’m OCD, but not debilitatingly so.
94. I don’t like chick flicks, but it’s just because I don’t like to cry.  I figure that I do enough crying in real life.  I don’t need to cry at a movie.
95. My favorite movie is Terminator 2.
96. After that, it’s The Parent Trap (the original).
97. I would like to get the top of my ear pierced, and either my nose or my eyebrow, but I will never do it…first, because of the pain and second, because it may hurt my chances of upward mobility if I have to stay in Corporate America.
98. I also would love to get a full sleeve tattoo, but will never do it for the above reasons.
99. I’m a pessimist, cynic, skeptic, sarcastic person.  And I don’t want to be like that as much as I am.
100. All things considered, though, I do like my life ok, and wouldn’t trade it:).

OK, well, there you have it.  Apparently I was able to do it.  If you’re still reading, thanks, and CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED…give this a shot and leave me a link to your blog post so I can check it out:)